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THE BUILDERS OF 
A NATION 

A HISTORY OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS 



BY 

FRANK GRENVILLE BEARDSLEY 

Ph.D., S.T.D. 

Author of a History of American Revivals, etc. 




BOSTON 
RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



.B37 

CoPYttiGHT, 1921, BY Richard G. Badoeb 



All Rights Reserved 



>^' 



Made in the United States of America 



/ 



The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



©OtA622510 

All; ' i^^^l 



TO THE MEMBERS AND FRIENDS 

OF THE 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 
Aurora, Illinois 

this volume is dedicated 
in grateful appreciation 

OF THEIR 
FIDELITT, LOYALTY AND DEVOTION 



PREFACE 

The year 1920 marks the three hundredth anni- 
versary of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. 
The time is opportune, therefore, for telling anew 
the story of their deeds and emphasizing afresh the 
ideals and principles of these builders of the nation, 
for the American Republic is more deeply indebted 
to this little band of humble men who made the first 
permanent settlement in New England than to any 
other of the early settlers who came to our shores. 
They laid the foundations and other men have 
builded thereupon. As Baillie has well said: "These 
men did more for the world than Columbus. He, in 
seeking India, discovered America. They in pur- 
suit of religious freedom, established civil liberty, 
and, meaning only to found a church, gave birth to 
a nation. In settling a town, they commenced an 
empire." 

In re-telling the story of these founders of the 
Republic, the attempt has been made to trace care- 
fully the antecedents and consequences of the Pil- 
grim movement that we may understand more clearly 
the principles which animated them and appreciate 
more fully the worth of the heritage which they have 

5 



6 Preface 

left us. The writer has availed himself of the results 
of the researches made by Hunter, Waddington, the 
two Dexters, Dale, Arber, Powicke, Davis, Pierce, 
Cater, Crippen, Burrage, Burgess, and others, be- 
sides the light which has come from the discovery, 
both in England and Holland, of dociunents and 
writings hitherto unknown, which have added greatly 
to our fund of knowledge and without which no ade- 
quate account of the Pilgrims could now be written. 
Since this volume is intended for modem readers, 
no attempt has been made, in quoting from the early 
writers, to reproduce the antiquated spelling of the 
original documents. 

Frank G. Beaedsley. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTBB 

I. The English Reformation 



II. The Puritans 35 

III. The Separatists 62 

IV. The Church at Scrooby .... 92 
V. The Emigration to Holland . . .117 

VI. Life at Leyden 135 

VII. Leaving Holland . . . . . . 157 

VIII. The Voyage of the "Mayflower" . 184 

IX. The Settlement at Plymouth . . 203 

X, Relations with the Indians . . . 225 

XI. Tribulations and Triumphs . . . 246 

XII. Further Developments .... 272 

XIII. The Swarming of the Puritans . . 289 

XIV. The Merging of Pilgrims and Puritans 310 

XV. The Influence of New England in 

THE Making of the Nation . . . 331 

Index 351 



PAQB 

9 



THE BUILDERS OF A NATION 



THE BUILDERS OF 
A NATION 

CHAPTER I 

THE ENGLISH REFORMATION 

To understand the Genesis of the Pilgrim move- 
ment together with the genius of Puritanism, the 
beginnings of the English Reformation must be 
traced. Unlike that on the continent the Reforma- 
tion in England was not exclusively a religious 
movement. On the contrary it ran in two streams 
or currents, the political and religious, which some- 
times ran parallel, sometimes intermingled, and some- 
times flowed far apart. 

Henry VIII is commonly regarded as the chief in- 
strument in causing the break with Rome and yet 
he never could have defied the authority of the pope 
but for events which preceded. England had always 
taken a more or less independent attitude towards 
the aggressions and encroachments of the Roman 
see. Disputes between pope and king were frequent. 
One of the most serious was that which arose over 
the appointment of Stephen Langton as archbishop 

11 



13 The Builders of a Nation 

of Canterbury contrary to the wishes of King John 
who banished the monks of Canterbury and vowed 
vengeance upon Rome. Innocent III replied by 
placing the kingdom under an interdict. In 1209 the 
king was excommunicated, and two years later 
threatened with deposition. In the end John, who 
was an unpopular monarch and could not count 
upon the support of liis own people, was obliged to 
submit, acknowledging Langton as archbishop and 
surrendering his kingdom to Innocent and his suc- 
cessors as feudal superiors and receiving it back as 
a vassal. 

Other kings proved less servile. Under Edward I, 
the Statute of Mortmain was enacted which forbade 
the alienation of lands and tenements to religious 
bodies in such a way as to cease to render due service 
to the king. During the reign of Edward III even 
more rigorous measures were adopted. In 1350 Par- 
liament passed the Statute of Provisors. This act 
set forth the evUs which England had suffered by the 
papal bestowment of benefices upon unworthy men, 
foreigners, etc., who performed no service for the 
English people ; and it ordered that the free election 
of archbishops, bishops, and all other dignities and 
benefices elective in England should be in accord- 
ance with the original intention of the endowments. 
In case of the pope collating to any office, such ap- 
pointment should be null and void, while those who 
procured provisions from the pope were to be im- 



The English Reformation 13 

prisoned and fined. In 1352 the Statute of Prae- 
munire was enacted making it treason for any 
English subject to be arraigned before a foreign 
tribunal, or to take any case falling within the juris- 
diction of the king's court to such a tribunal. This 
was aimed at the appeals made before the Roman 
Curia, which had ignored the king's court and had 
set aside its decisions. Although these statutes were 
often ignored, they paved the way for the final 
break with the papacy under Henry VIII. 

In addition to these political developments there 
was also a religious preparation for the revolt from 
Rome. John Wiclif has been called "the Morning 
Star of the Reformation." Born near the little town 
of Richmond in Yorkshire, at the age of sixteen or 
seventeen he entered Oxford University where the 
greater part of his life was spent as student or pro- 
fessor. In 1365 Pope Urban V demanded the annual 
tribute of 1000 marks which King John, 150 years 
before, had agreed should be paid by himself and 
his successors in acknowledgment that they held 
the crown under the pope as their feudal su- 
perior. The king laid this demand before Par- 
liament which decided that John had no right to 
subject his country to such an impost and that any 
attempt on the part of the pope to enforce it should 
be resisted to the uttermost. In this controversy 
Wiclif took a prominent part on behalf of the Eng- 
lish people and from that time to the day of his 



14 The Builders of a Nation 

death he occupied a position of influence in the po- 
litical and religious life of the country. 

He attacked the arrogance and covetousness of 
the Roman see together with its appropriation of 
the revenues of English benefices for the enrichment 
of foreign priests who rendered no service to the 
English people. He assailed the mendicant orders, 
and condemned the vices, the irreligion, and the 
ignorance of the clergy. He denied the doctrine of 
transubstantiation and opposed auricular confes- 
sion. He does not seem to have apprehended the 
doctrine of justification by faith, but in many other 
respects he anticipated the teachings of Luther and 
the later reformers. He sent out "poor priests" into 
the highways and hedges, to the public squares and 
the market places to preach the gospel in the lan- 
guage of the people. His most important work, 
however, was the translation of the Scriptures into 
the English tongue, which has been the basis of all 
subsequent translations and, with the writings of 
Chaucer and Langland, helped to create English 
literature, Wiclif translated the whole of the New 
Testament, and with the aid of Nicholas of Here- 
ford, the Old Testament. Although this translation 
was never printed, from the number of manuscript 
copies which have been handed down, it must have 
been widely circulated. Protected by influential per- 
sons and the circumstances of his time Wiclif died a 
natural death, although he was obliged to retire from 



The English Reformation 15 

Oxford and spent the latter years of his life in re- 
tirement as rector of the church in the quiet parish 
of Lutterworth. His doctrines were condemned by 
the Council of Constance in 1415 and his body or- 
dered taken from the grave and burned. 

The work of Wiclif was continued by the Lollards 
or babblers, who, clad in long russet robes, and with 
staves in hand, went barefoot from village to village 
preaching the word of God, wherever they could find 
listeners and distributing hand-copied "passages 
from Wiclif 's tracts and texts from the Bible among 
tradesmen and artisans, yeomen and ploughboys, to 
be pondered over and talked about and learned by 
heart." Henry Knighton, writing in the time of 
Richard II, declared that every second man you met 
was a Lollard. Such was the influence of LoUardry 
at the time that in 1395 they ventured to petition 
the House of Commons, maintaining that the pos- 
session of temporalities on the part of the clergy was 
contrary to the law of Christ; that the Roman 
priesthood was not the priesthood ordained of 
Christ; that the law of celibacy was the occasion of 
scandalous irregularities; that the doctrine of tran- 
substantiation led to idolatry; that exorcisms and 
benedictions pronounced over bread, wine, oil, salt, 
water, etc., are practices of necromacy ; that prayers 
for the dead are a false foundation for alms and 
likely to be displeasing to God ; that prayers offered 
to images are akin to idolatry; that auricular con- 



16 The Builders of a Nation 

fession exalts the pride of priests and is dangerous 
to virtue ; that priests have no power to absolve from 
sin. 

To suppress Lollardry the Statute De heretico 
comburendo was enacted in 1401, the preamble of 
which states that "divers false and perverse people 
of a certain new sect, of the faith, of the sacraments 
of the Church, and the authority of the same, 
damnably thinking, and against the law of God and 
the Church, usurping the office of preaching, do per- 
versely and maliciously, in divers places within the 
said realm, under the color of dissembled holiness, 
preach and teach these days, openly and privily, 
divers new doctrines, and wicked, heretical and er- 
roneous opinions. And of such sect and wicked 
doctrine, they make unlawful conventicles and con- 
federacies ; they hold and exercise schools ; they make 
and write books ; they do wickedly instruct and in- 
form people; and, as much as they may, incite and 
stir to sedition and insurrection, and make great ^ 
strife and division among the people; and other 
enormities horrible to be heard, do perpetrate and 
commit." 

The statute provides that no one shall preach in 
public or private without license; no one shall speak 
or write against the Catholic faith as determined by 
the church; no one shall favor or support such 
heretical teachers; those having in their possession 
heretical books were ordered to surrender the same 



The English Reformation 17 

within forty days from the publication of the 
statute. Offenders and those suspected of heresy 
were to be arrested and imprisoned until they cleared 
themselves or abjured their heretical beliefs. Those 
refusing to abjure or who relapsed, upon conviction 
before the ecclesiastical courts were to be turned 
over to the civil authorities and burned "before the 
people in a high place — that such punishment may 
strike fear in the minds of others, whereby no such 
wicked doctrine, and heretical and erroneous opin- 
ions, nor their authors and abettors in the said 
realm and dominions, against the Catholic faith, 
Christian law, and the determination of the Holy 
Church — which God prohibit — may be sustained, or 
in any wise suffered." 

Large numbers of persons, both men and women, 
were arrested in various parts of the country. Some 
abjured their opinions, but others, laymen and 
priests, mechanics and serving men, tradesmen and 
farmers, were sent to the stake. Persecution con- 
tinued for many years, until, says Fuller, "the civil 
wars diverted the prelates from troubling the Lol- 
lards, so that this very storm was a shelter to those 
poor souls." Upon the accession of Henry VII the 
persecution was renewed with vigor, but the Lollards 
were never wholly stamped out. As late as 1520 
the Bishop of Lincoln complained that in his diocese 
Lollardism was very troublesome. In the course of 
a single episcopal visitation two hundred heretics' 



18 The Builders of a Nation 

were brought before him. There is sufficient war- 
rant, therefore, for the observation of Fiske that 
when Henry VIII defied the papacy "England was 
half-Protestant already." 

The inunediate forerunners of the Reformation in 
England were Colet, Erasmus, and More, the Oxford 
reformers. John Colet, the son of a lord mayor of 
London, was bom in 1466. In Italy he studied the 
writings of Pico, Ficino, Plato and the Bible, and 
was influenced by the work of Savonarola at Flor- 
ence. On returning to England he took up his resi- 
dence at Oxford where he attracted attention by his 
devotion to the new learning. He lectured on Paul's 
Epistle to the Romans, directing the attention of 
his hearers to the scriptures themselves rather than 
the fanciful and allegorical interpretations of the 
Schoolmen. He urged the necessity for reform and 
criticized the laxity of the clergy, saying, "if the 
clergy lived in the love of God and their neighbors, 
how soon would their true piety, religion, charity, 
goodness towards men, simplicity, patience, toler- 
ance of evil, conquer evil with good ! How would it 
stir up the minds of men everywhere to think well 
of the Church of Christ." The only salvation of 
the church was the reform of the clergy from the 
pope down to the lowest cleric. "Oh, Jesus Christ, 
wash for us not our feet only, but also our hands 
and our Ji^ad! Otherwise our disordered Church 
cannot be far from death." Associated with Colet 
were his pupil Thomas More, and Desiderius Eras- 



The English Reformation 19 

mus. Imbued with his teacher's enthusiasm for 
learning and his zeal for reform More wrote his 
"Utopia," drawing a contrast between the kingdoms 
of his time and an ideal commonwealth. 

Of the influence of Erasmus in preparing the way 
for the reformation, it was said that Luther hatched 
the egg which Erasmus had laid. He was accused of 
inconstancy and inconsistency because, like Luther, 
he attacked the abuses of the church but unlike the 
Wittenberg reformer he did not sever his relations 
with Rome. Lacking the enthusiasm and the moral 
earnestness of Luther he thought that it was better 
to purify the church than to create a schism within 
it. He did a work, nevertheless, of the greatest im- 
portance. In his Encheiridion Militis Christicmi or 
"Manual of a Christian Soldier," which, says See- 
bohn, re-echoed the keynote of Colet's faith, he con-\ 
demned the adoration of saints and the practice of 
pilgrimages together with the idea that a godly life 
consisted in the observance of outward forms and 
ceremonies. In his Morice Enconiwm, or "Praise 
of Folly," written in More's house, which was di- 
rected against the sins of "unholy men in holy or- 
ders," he satirized the follies, abuses, and corruptions 
of the church. His greatest work, however, was an 
edition of the New Testament containing, in parallel 
columns, the original Greek with a new Latin trans- 
lation of his own. In the preface to this volume he 
expressed the wish "that even the weakest woman 



20 The Builders of a Nation 

should read the Gospels — should read the Epistles 
of Paul; and I wish that they were translated into 
all languages, so that they might be read and under- 
stood not only by Scots and Irishmen, but also by 
Turks and Saracens. I long that the husbandman 
should sing portions of them to himself as he follows 
the plough, that the weaver should hum them to the 
tune of the shuttle, that the traveller should beguile 
with their stories the tedium of his journey." 

Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509 when he 
was barely eighteen years of age. For several years 
he was an ardent papist, and in 1521 he wrote a 
book entitled "Assertion of the Seven Sacraments 
against Martin Luther," for which he was rewarded 
by the pope with the title Fidei Defensor, "Defender 
of the Faith," which subsequent English sovereigns 
have borne from that day to this. No change in the 
king's attitude took place until he sought a divorce 
from his wife, Katherine of Aragon. 

Katherine, the youngest child of Ferdinand and 
Isabella, was the widow of Henry's elder brother. A 
few months after their marriage the prince died. 
Henry VII, wishing to retain her dowry and an al- 
liance with Spain, caused his son Henry, although 
he was six years her junior, to be espoused to Kath- 
erine. To overcome ecclesiastical objections Pope 
Julius II issued a bull licensing the marriage and the 
betrothal took place June 25, 1504. Soon after his 
father's death the marriage of Henry VIII and 



The English Reformation 21 

Katherine was solemnized. For several years they 
seem to have lived happily together. Two sons were 
bom, both of whom soon died. Their third child 
was the Princess Mary who afterwards became Queen 
of England. After the death of the infant princes 
and the seeming inability of the queen to give him 
a male heir, Henry recalled the Mosaic statute which 
pronounced sterility upon such a marriage as his 
and he began to entertain doubts as to the lawfulness 
of the marriage with his brother's widow. He seems, 
however, to have had no compunctions of conscience 
until after he had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn, 
a young waiting maid of the queen. At all events he 
now sought to put Katherine away and negotiations 
were entered into with Rome to secure a divorce. 

At first the pope seemed to be favorably disposed, 
but not willing to give offense to the emperor 
Charles V, the nephew of Katherine, matters were 
delayed for one reason and another. Finally the 
patience of the king became exhausted by the dila- 
tory tactics of Clement VH and he decided to take 
matters into his own hands. By the advice of 
Thomas Cranmer the universities of Europe and 
numerous scholars versed in the canon law were ap- 
pealed to as to the validity of the marriage between 
Katherine and Henry. Twelve of the universities, 
including Paris, Orleans, Padua, Bologna, Oxford 
and Cambridge, decided against it. In January, 
1533, the king was privately wedded to Anne Boleyn 



22 The Builders of a Nation 

and later that same year Cranmer, who had been 
appointed archbishop of Canterbury, pronounced 
the previous marriage invalid and a few days later 
ratified the king's marriage with Anne Boleyn, who 
was now crowned Queen. In March of the following 
year the pope excommunicated Henry and absolved 
his subjects from their allegiance. But before this 
action was reported, the Convocations of Canterbury 
and York declared that the Bishop of Rome had no 
more authority in England than any other foreign 
bishop. By an act of Parliament it was ordered 
that the king "shall be taken, accepted, and reputed 
the only supreme head on earth of the Church of 
England, and shall have and enjoy, annexed and 
united to the Imperial Crown of this realm, as well 
the title and state thereof as all the honors, juris- 
dictions, authorities, immunities, profits, and com- 
modities to the said dignity belonging; and that our 
said sovereign lord, his heirs and successors, kings 
of this realm, shall have full power to visit, repress, 
redress, reform and amend all such errors, heresies, 
abuses, contempts, and enormities, which by any 
manner of spiritual authority or jurisdiction might 
or may lawfully be reformed." Three years earlier 
the Convocations of Canterbury and York had been 
compelled to acknowledge Henry VIII as "the Pro- 
tector and Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy 
of England," to which a qualifying clause was added, 
"in so far as is permitted by the law of Christ." 



The English Reformation 23 

That Henry did not consider this a denial of papal 
authority is evident from the fact that negotiations 
with Rome were still continued, but by the Act of 
Supremacy the break with Rome was consummated. 

Up to this stage there had been no move towards 
Protestantism. A change in the headship of the 
church was all that was contemplated. Other 
changes were inevitable. In 1535, Cromwell as the 
king's vicar-general instituted a visitation of the 
monasteries. Scandal had long been busy about the 
corrupt morals of the monks. The commissioners 
reported to Parliament that conditions were even 
worse than had been whispered and that two-thirds 
of the monks were leading vicious lives. As a resui t. 
the dissolution of the monasteries was ordered, the 
smaller ones immediately and the larger ones a few 
years later. The vast estates of the monasteries 
were now confiscated by the crown. The suppression 
of these houses led to wide-spread dissatisfaction in 
some sections of England and a rebellion ensued 
which was promptly suppressed, its leaders being 
put to death. 

In 1536, when Convocation met, Cromwell declared 
that it was the king's pleasure that the rites and 
ceremonies of the church should be reformed accord- 
ing to the Scriptures and that nothing should be 
maintained which did not rest upon their authority. 
"Ten Articles of Religion" were adopted. They de- 
clared that the Christian faith is contained in the 



24 The Builders of a Nation 

Bible, and the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian 
Creeds. Only three sacraments were mentioned — 
baptism, penance, and the Lord's Supper. Baptism 
was necessary to eternal life, securing the remission 
of sin and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Penance, 
consisting of contrition, confession, and the fruits 
of penance, prayer, fasting, alms-deeds, and good 
works, was so necessary for man's salvation that no 
man falling into sin, after baptism, can without 
penance obtain everlasting life. Confession was to 
be made to a priest, if possible; his words in ab- 
solving from sin to be taken as the very words and 
voice of God Himself. Of the sacrament of the 
altar it was affirmed that "under the figure and 
form of bread and wine, is verily, substantially, and 
really contained and comprehended, the very self- 
same body and blood of our Savior Jesus Christ 
which was born of the Virgin Mary, and suffered 
upon the cross for our redemption." The grounds 
of justification were the merits of the passion of 
Christ, and it was to be obtained through contrition, 
faith, and charity. Images were to remain in the 
churches, but should not be worshipped. Saints were 
to be honored and prayed to but not as unto God. 
The doctrine of purgatory was allowed in so far as 
praying for the dead was concerned, but the people 
should not believe that the pope had power to deliver 
souls from purgatory by pardons or masses. 

At a meeting of the bishops early in 1537 a com- 



The English Reformation 25 

raittee was appointed to prepare a manual of re- 
ligious instruction. This book, entitled the "Insti- 
tution of a Christian Man," contained an exposition 
of the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments, the 
Lord's Prayer, the "Seven Sacraments" and Justi- 
fication and Purgatory. The book also contained 
the "Ten Articles," and the three sacraments there 
described are declared to be of greater dignity and 
necessity than the others. 

In 1539 a revision of John Rogers' translation of 
the Bible, known as the "Great Bible" and licensed 
by the king, was printed in England. This version 
was rendered immediately useful by the king's com- 
mand that a large copy of the Bible should be set 
up in every church that the people might have access 
to the same. The clergy were ordered "to expressly 
provoke, stir, and exhort every person to read the 
same as that which is the very lively word of God, 
that every Christian man is bound to embrace, be- 
lieve, and follow, if he look to be saved." 

Notwithstanding the progress which had thus been 
made towards Protestantism, Henry VIII, at heart, 
was no Protestant and in 1639 the reactionary 
Statute of the Six Articles was enacted, embracing 
the following: 1. That in the sacrament of the altar, 
after the consecration, there remained no substance 
of bread and wine, but, under these forms, the nat- 
ural body and blood of Christ were present. 2. That 
communion in both kinds was not necessary to sal- 



26 The Builders of a Nation 

vation to all persons by the law of God; but that 
both the flesh and blood of Christ were together in" 
each of the kinds. 3. That priests after the order 
of priesthood might not marry by the law of God. 
4. That the vows of chastity ought to be observed by 
the law of God. 5. That the use of private masses 
ought to be continued; which as it was agreeable to 
God's law, so men received great benefit by them. 
6. That auricular confession was expedient and 
necessary, and ought to be retained in the church. 
It was decreed that all who spoke, preached or wrote 
against the first article were to be adjudged heretics 
and burnt without any abjuration. Those who 
preached or disputed against the other articles were 
to be imprisoned and their goods forfeited for the 
first offence, and for the second to be punished by 
death as felons. Marriages of priests and all who 
had taken vows of chastity were to be dissolved. 
If they remarried they were to be hanged. 

In 1543 an act was passed forbidding the use of 
Tyndale's version and any reading of the Scriptures 
in assemblies without the king's license. Noblemen 
and gentlemen might have the Bible read to them. 
It might be read by householding merchants, but 
women, artificers, apprentices, journeymen, ser\ang- 
men, husbandmen, or laborers were not permitted to 
do so. Instead they might read the "Institution of 
a Christian Man'* and other works published by 
royal authority. 



The English Reformation 27 

Notwithstanding these restrictions Protestantism 
gained ground steadily until the king's death in 
1547. Henry VIII could hardly be classed either 
as a Protestant or a Catholic, for during his reign 
both were persecuted. A stranger in England at the 
time remarked "those who were against the pope 
were burned, and those who were for him were 
hanged." At heart Henry no doubt was a Catholic, 
but by the circumstances in which he was placed 
he was forced into an attitude of opposition to the 
papacy, and on that account was compelled to coun- 
tenance and sanction certain changes in the English 
church. 

Henry was succeeded by his son Edward VI, who 
was but nine years of age. In his will the king had 
provided that a Council composed of sixteen mem- 
bers should manage affairs during the minority of 
his son. The Earl of Hertford, Edward's uncle, 
was made Duke of Somerset, Protector of the Realm 
and Governor of the king's person. Somerset and 
Archbishop Cranmer, primate of England, were 
favorable to Protestantism and opposed to Rome. 
England accordingly became thoroughly Protestant 
during Edward's brief reign, at least in so far as it 
was possible by legal enactments. The obnoxious 
Six Articles were abolished and the laws against 
heresy repealed. Communion in both kinds was en- 
joined. Images were ordered removed from the 
churches and pictures of the saints were coated with 



28 The Builders of a Nation 

whitewash. The clergy were permitted to marry. 
An English Liturgy was adopted and Protestant 
Articles of Faith were promulgated. 

The Book of Prayer was compiled by Cranmer, 
who, by correspondence and otherwise, consulted 
many of the leading Protestant divines in Europe, 
including Lutherans, Calvanists, and Zwinglians. 
The tendency toward compromise, however, still pre- 
vailed. The clergyman was called a "priest." The 
communion table was styled an "altar." The name 
of the Virgin was used, especially in the praise of- 
fered for the saints. The sign of the cross was en- 
joined in the marriage ceremony, confirmation, 
anointing the sick, consecrating the water of bap- 
tism, and twice each in the baptismal and communion 
services. The old forms of trine immersion, exor- 
cism, and anointing were retained in baptism. 
Prayers for the dead were countenanced. 

This liturgy was prescribed by law and it was en- 
acted that the clergy should make use of this and no 
other; and "if any parson, vicar, or spiritual per- 
son, shall speak in derogation of it, he shall for 
the first offence, forfeit a yearns profit of one of his 
preferments, with six months' imprisonment; for the 
second, lose all his preferments, with twelve months' 
imprisonment; and for the third, be imprisoned for 
life; and if any one ridicule the same form of wor- 
ship, menace the minister for using it, or prevail on 
him to use any other, he shall, on the first conviction. 



The English Reformation 29 

pay a fine of ten pounds ; on the second, of twenty ; 
and on the third, forfeit all his goods and chattels, 
and be imprisoned for life." 

This liturgy never satisfied the thorough-going 
Protestants, the king himself wishing further 
changes. So under Cranmer a committee of divines 
undertook its revision, which was adopted by Par- 
liament in April, 1552. In the new Prayer Book the 
name of the Virgin and the sign of the cross were 
omitted. Trine immersion, exorcism, and anointing 
were eliminated from the baptismal service. Prayers 
for the dead were discontinued. The greatest change 
was in the observance of the Lord's Supper. In the 
first Prayer Book the form prescribed was : "When 
he (the priest) doth deliver the Sacrament of the 
body of Christ, he shall say to every one these words 
following: The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which 
was given for thee, preserve thy body unto everlast- 
ing life. And the Priest delivering the Sacrament of 
the blood, and giving every one to drink once and 
no more, shall say: The blood of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy soul 
unto everlasting life." In this form there was noth- 
ing inconsistent with a belief in the corporeal pres- 
ence of Christ in the bread and wine, but in the re- 
vised Liturgy, in place of "The body of our Lord 
Jesus Christ," etc., it read: "Take and eat this, in 
remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on 
him in thy heart by faith, with thanksgiving. And 



30 The Builders of a Nation 

the minister that delivereth the cup shall say : Drink 
this in remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for 
thee, and be thankful." 

The "Forty-two Articles" setting forth the faith 
of the Church of England were prepared chiefly by 
Cranmer, the same year. These "Articles" were 
thoroughly Protestant in tone and may be described 
as moderately Calvinistic rather than Lutheran. 
During the reign of Elizabeth the "Forty-two Ar- 
ticles" were reduced to Thirty-nine and as such they 
constitute the basis of the faith of the Church of 
England to this day. 

The new Liturgy and the "Forty-two Articles" 
barely had time to come into general use when Ed- 
ward VI, never robust in health, died July 6, 1553, 
in the seventh year of his reign and the sixteenth of 
his life. 

Under the reactionary policy of his successor 
Mary Tudor, the eldest daughter of Henry VIII, 
"bloody Mary" as she is sometimes called, Protes- 
tantism was overthrown. The mass was restored 
and the clergy reduced to celibacy. Those who had 
married were obliged to separate from their wives. 
Over eight hundred fled to the continent, including 
five bishops, five deans, five archdeacons, and more 
than fifty doctors of divinity. Large numbers of 
noblemen, merchants, tradesmen, mechanics, and oth- 
ers left the country. In 1554 with but two negative 
votes in the House of Commons, Parliament voted 



The English Reformation 31 

to return to obedience to the pope, after which the 
members of both Houses fell upon their knees be- 
fore the papal legate, who, in the name of the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, absolved them "and the whole 
nation, and the dominions thereof, from all heresy 
and schism, and all judgments, censures, and penal- 
ties for that cause incurred; and restored them to 
the communion of Holy Church." Practically all 
of the anti-papal enactments of the two preceding 
reigns were repealed except the restoration of the 
confiscated church lands which were now in the hands 
of the lords and commons. Queen Mary, however, 
rebuilt many of the ruined monasteries and abbeys, 
and restored a large part of the church property 
which still remained in the hands of the crown. 

The sanguinary laws against heresy were revised 
and during her brief reign, nearly three hundred 
persons were sent to the stake, the most eminent of 
whom were Bishops Latimer and Ridley, and Arch- 
bishop Cranmer. Latimer and Ridley were burned 
at the same stake. When the torch was applied, the 
aged Latimer encouraged his companion with these 
words: "Be of good cheer. Master Ridley, and play 
the man; for we shall this day light such a candle 
in England, as I trust, by God's grace, shall never 
be put out." Cranmer, who had always been a man 
of policy rather than profound convictions, was in- 
duced, during his Imprisonment, to recant in the 
hope that his life might be spared. This, however, 



S2 The Builders of a Nation 

did not avail and to atone for his inconstancy, before 
he was led to the stake he made a total recall of his 
recantation, concluding with these words : "And for- 
asmuch as my hand has offended in writing contrary 
to my heart, my hand shall first be punished; for 
when I come to the fire it shall first be burned." 
Cranmer kept his promise and never moved it from 
the flame save once or twice to wipe his brow, until 
it was burned away; the only cry of pain that es- 
caped his lips being the exclamation, "That un- 
worthy hand." 

Broken in health and disappointed in love Mary, 
perhaps, is not to be judged too harshly for the part 
which she took in these persecutions. She, no doubt, 
was conscientious in her devotion to the church of 
Rome, and yet her intolerant zeal did more than 
anything else to make England Protestant and ready 
to welcome the changes which took place when her 
successor, Queen Elizabeth, came to the throne. 

Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne 
Boleyn, was not a radical Protestant. She con- 
tinued for a time to attend mass, and retained a 
silver crucifix in her own private chapel. Her in- 
terests, however, were clearly with the Protestant 
party and from motives of policy rather than other- 
wise she threw the weight of her influence in their 
favor. In 1559 Parliament passed an "Act to re- 
store to the Crown the ancient jurisdiction over the 
Estate Ecclesiastical and Spiritual, and abolishing 



The English Reformation 33 

all foreign powers repugnant to the same." The 
Queen was empowered to appoint a court of High 
Commission "to visit, reform, redress, order, correct 
and amend all errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, con- 
tempts, offences, and enormities whatsoever." All 
ecclesiastical persons and every other person in the 
service of the crown were compelled to take an oath 
acknowledging the Queen's highness as the "only Su- 
preme Governor of the realm — as well in all 
Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Things or Causes, as 
Temporal." Persons refusing to take this oath were 
to lose their offices, civil or ecclesiastical, and in the 
future the taking of this oath was necessary for hold- 
ing any office under the crown, civil or ecclesiastical, 
and for all university degrees. An Act of Uniformity 
was passed that same year requiring the clergy to 
use the Anglican Liturgy under pain of forfeiting 
their goods for the first offence; a year's imprison- 
ment for the second; and imprisonment during life 
for the third. To secure the conformity of the laity, 
non-attendance at church "upon every Sunday, and 
other days ordained and used to be kept as holy- 
days" was made punishable by a fine of twelve pence 
for every absence. The Prayer Book of Edward 
VI was amended by omitting some of the strongest 
anti-papal items, and in 1563 the "Forty-two Ar- 
ticles" were reduced to Thirty-nine. That same 
year an Act was passed requiring all holders of 
offices, civil or ecclesiastical, to take an oath ac- 



34 The Builders of a Nation 

knowledging allegiance to the Queen and abjuring 
the temporal authority of the pope. A second re- 
fusal to take this oath was to be reckoned treason. 
By these enactments England again became Protes- 
tant, but as we shall see in the following chapter 
there were many who believed that the reformation 
should be carried still farther, and the church 
brought into closer conformity with the ideals and 
teachings of the New Testament. 



CHAPTER II 



THE PURITANS 



Except during the reign of Edward VI, the prin- 
ciple which, in the main, had governed the English 
reformation was expediency. Henry VIII had no 
sympathy with the German reformers. His sole pur- 
j pose in revolting from Rome and assuming the head- 
( ship of the English Church was to consummate his 
I marriage with Anne Boleyn. Some few of the clergy 

• openly, and others secretly, remained loyal to Rome, 
' but the overwhelming majority accepted the changes 
I under Henry through loyalty to their sovereign and 

* without any decided convictions upon the subject. 
, This is evidenced by the ease with which they re- 
I verted to allegiance to the Roman see under Mary. 

There were some, no doubt, who were animated by 

I the spirit of Wiclif and the Lollards, and others 

who, by reason of the changes which were taking 

place in the English church, were now brought into 

\ contact or communication with the reformers on 

I the continent, and because imbued with their spirit. 

This was true of Cranmer, Ridley, and others whose 

influence during the reign of Edward VI was marked. 

35 



36 The Builders of a Nation 

The degree to which the English clergy had been in- 
fluenced by the new spirit is evident from the num- 
bers, who, refusing to bow the knee to Rome under 
Mary, had fled to the continent for refuge. 

Elizabeth was as truly governed by expediency 
as her father had been before her. She had some 
strong leanings towards Romanism although she 
could not recognize the authority of the pope or 
suffer his interference with English affairs. She 
was willing that the English Liturg}^ should be used 
but opposed the marriage of the clergy and in other 
respects wanted as few changes as possible. It 
seemed to be her policy to make it as easy as possible 
for her Roman Catholic subjects to accept the new 
order of things under her reign. So satisfactory 
was her attitude to the clergy of England that out 
of 9400 only about 240 refused to accept her su- 
premacy in the church, and remaining loyal to Rome 
surrendered their livings. It is possible that such 
a policy was the only one that could have weaned 
England from Romanism. More radical measures 
might have resulted in disaster and confusion. How- 
ever, the radical reformers, thoroughly Protestant 
in their point of view, were dissatisfied with these 
half-way measures and regarded everything that 
savored of Rome as inconsistent with the spirit of 
scriptural and apostolic Christianity. They wished 
to purge the English church of every vestige of 
Romanism. Because of their desire to purify the 



The Puritans 37 

church, in derision they were nicknamed Puritans. 
Although the name Puritan did not originate until 
sometime between 1560 and 1570, the beginnings of 
Puritanism may be traced back to the reign of Ed- 
ward VI if not earlier. At first Puritanism seems 
to have been concerned chiefly about ecclesiastical 
vestments, or the garments worn by the clergy when 
officiating at religious services, but it soon came 
to include not merely the question of vestments, 
of forms and ceremonies, but the very constitu- 
tion of the church itself. At this day the ques- 
tion of vestments may seem a very trivial one, 
but it was not so regarded by the early Puri- 
tans. When England swung loose from the papacy, 
the robes which the Romish priests had been 
accustomed to wear continued in use. Very nat- 
urally the people looked upon those who wore 
priestly habits as priests. This was not to the 
liking of the thorough going Protestants. They de- 
nied that they were priests and did not wish them- 
selves to be so regarded. They were willing to wear 
the simple Genevan gown, considering it an appro- 
priate garment to be used in conducting the services 
of the church, but the use of the Romish vestments 
was a bowing of the knee to Rome, and a badge 
of Anti-Christ. Moreover, after the Marian per- 
secutions, as Dr. Dale says, *'the vestments were 
inseparably associated with the most terrible mem- 
ories. . . . For three years, in town after town, and 



38 The Builders of a Nation 

city after city, the faggots were built up in the 
market-place, and men, women, and children, some- 
times alone, sometimes in groups, were burnt for 
their Protestant faith, while Popish bishops in their 
Popish vestments looked on. About two hundred and 
eighty martyrs perished by fire, besides those who 
suffered cruel wrongs and intolerable tortures in 
prison but were not burnt. . . . To compel the min- 
isters of the purer faith to wear the livery of the men 
who had put the saints of God on the rack and sent 
them to the flames, was horrible. To be present at 
any worship where that livery was worn, seemed like 
condoning the crimes from which the martyrs had 
suffered. Nor was this all. What Rome had 
touched — so thought the more earnest Protestants 
of those days — had pollution in it. Prayers and 
sacraments were defiled, if the ministers wore the 
vestments of Anti-Christ." 

One of the first of the Puritans, although not 
such in name, was John Hooper. He had been a 
Cistercian monk but upon the dissolution of the 
monasteries under Henry VIII had gone to the con- 
tinent. He returned to England in 1549 and was 
appointed chaplain first to Somerset and then to 
Edward VI. In 1550 he was nominated to the see 
of Gloucester, but refused to wear the "Aaronic 
habits," as he termed the episcopal vestments, with- 
out which he could not receive consecration to the 
office. However, the King and Council were deter- 



The Puritans 39 

mined that he should be a bishop. When they were 
unable to overcome his scruples by argument they 
caused him to be shut up in his own house and when 
this failed they sent him to the Fleet. Finally he 
agreed to a compromise in which he engaged to wear 
the obnoxious garments at his consecration and when 
he preached before the king if he might lay them 
aside on other occasions. It is not strange that a 
man of such type should have suffered martyrdom 
during the reaction under Queen Mary. 

It was doubtless through the influence of such 
men as Hooper that when the second Prayer Book 
of Edward was prepared it was ordered "that the 
minister at the time of the Communion and all other 
times in his ministration, shall use neither alb, vest- 
ment, nor cope ; but, being Archbishop or Bishop, he 
shall have and wear a rochet ; and being a priest, or 
deacon, he shall have and wear a surplice only." 

When Mary Tudor assumed the crown on the 
death of Edward VI, eight hundred of the clergy, as 
already stated, who refused to acknowledge the au- 
thority of the pope, were obliged to flee for their 
lives to the continent, where they found a refuge at 
Strassburg, Zurich, Geneva, and elsewhere. Large 
numbers settled at Geneva where John Calvin, then 
at the zenith of his power, ruled in ascetic simplic- 
ity. Here they not only became indoctrinated with 
the theological conceptions of the great French re- 
former, but found great satisfaction in the simple 



40 The Budders of a Nation 

forms of church life and worship which prevailed 
at Geneva. Several of these exiles busied themselves 
in preparing a new translation of the Bible in Eng- 
lish. The New Testament appeared in 1557 and 
the Old Testament in 1560, the cost of printing being 
met by "such as were of most ability" in the con- 
gregation at Geneva. This version, called the Ge- 
nevan Bible, was the Bible of the Puritans and 
Pilgrims, and remained popular long after the ap- 
pearance of the King James' version in 1611. 

After the coronation of Queen Elizabeth the 
exiles returned from the continent with the desire for 
a radical reforaiation. They wished to eliminate 
every semblance of popery and to establish the Eng- 
lish church upon the simple Genevan model. But the 
Queen was not so minded. She wished as few changes 
as possible. Some things she was willing to concede 
to the Protestants but at the same time she sought 
to make the service tolerable to the Catholics. In 
most places the old priests continued to officiate as 
they had done before — at tlie old altars, in the vest- 
ments to which they had been accustomed, and in 
the observance of a ritual, which to all intents and 
purposes was very similar to that which had been in 
use before. All this was in harmony with the policy 
of Elizabeth, and when the radical reformers clam- 
ored for further changes she remained obdurate, 
bitterly opposing everything that savored of Puri- 
tanism. 



The Puritans 41 

At the meeting of Convocation in 1562 it was pro- 
posed that all holy days except Sundays, Christmas, 
Easter, and Whitsuntide should be abolished; that 
the minister in reading the church service should 
turn his face to the people and not to the altar that 
"they might hear and be edified"; that the sign of 
the cross in baptism should be omitted ; that kneeling 
at the communion should be optional; that sacra- 
mental vestments should not be enforced but that the 
use of the surplice should suffice in "saying divine 
service and ministering the sacraments'*; and that 
the use of the organ should be discontinued. The 
strength of the radical reformers in the lower house 
of Convocation is apparent from the fact that these 
proposals were lost by a single vote, and but for 
proxies, of which the reformers had only fifteen while 
their opponents had twenty-four, they would have 
carried. 

Although defeated in Convocation the Puritans 
disregarded the directions of the Prayer Book and 
did as they saw fit. Sir W. Cecil graphically de- 
scribes the chaotic conditions then prevalent: "Some 
say the service and prayers in the chancel, others in 
the body of the church. Some keep precisely the 
order of the Prayer Book; others intermeddle 
Psalms in metre. Some read the service with a sur- 
plice; others without. In some places the table 
standeth in the body of the church, in others it 
standeth in the chancel, and in others it standeth 



42 The Builders of a Nation 

altarwise. Communion is administered by some with 
surplice and cap ; by some with surplice alone ; 
others with none. Some use the chalice, some a com- 
munion cup, and others a common cup. Some use 
unleavened bread and some leavened. Some baptize 
with the sign of the cross ; others sign not." 

In 1564, to secure uniformity, a book entitled 
** Advertisements partly for the Due Order in tJie 
Publique Administration of Common Prayers and 
U singe the Holy Sacraments, and partly for the Ap- 
parel of all Persons Ecclesiastical, etc.,'* was drawn 
up by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops 
of London, Winchester, Ely and Lincoln. Accord- 
ing to its directions "all licenses for preaching 
granted out by the archbishops and bishops within 
the province of Canterbury, bearing date before the 
first day of March, 1564, be void and of none effect.'* 
In this way all preachers were silenced and it was 
ordained that only "such as shall be thought meet 
for the office" should receive a fresh license. Every 
clergyman before appointment to any ecclesiastical 
office must promise not to preach without a license; 
that he will read the service plainly, distinctly, and 
audibly, so that all may hear and understand; that 
he will wear the appointed dress ; that he will en- 
deavor to promote peace among his parishioners; 
that every day he will read at least one chapter in 
the Old Testament, and one in the New to increase 
his knowledge ; that he will "keep and maintain such 



The Puritans 43 

order and uniformity in all external polity, Rites, 
and Ceremonies of the Church as by the Laws, good 
Usages, and Orders are already well provided and 
established" ; and that he will not "openly inter- 
meddle wath any artificer's occupation, as covetously 
to seek a gain thereby," if his ecclesiastical living 
was worth twenty nobles a year. 

In 1565 the clergy of London were summoned 
before the Archbishop at Lambeth and required to 
make the declaration of conformity affixed to the 
"Advertisements." All but thirty agreed to do so. 
A year later they were again brought before the 
ecclesiastical commission, when thirty-seven out of 
ninety-eight refused to conform. They were sus- 
pended from the ministry, and if they did not submit 
within three months were to be deprived of their 
livings. Of those who were thus deprived some en- 
tered secular occupations, some went to Scotland, 
some to the continent, while some were reduced to 
beggary. In London and elsewhere churches were 
left destitute because there was no one to conduct 
the service. As a consequence the followers of these 
ejected ministers began to meet privately to worship 
God as the Protestants had done during the reign 
of Queen Mary. In 1567 a congregation of such, 
consisting of one hundred persons, were surprised by 
the authorities at Plumbers' Hall, London, where 
they had met under pretence of a wedding. A con- 
siderable number of them were arrested and brouffht 



44 The Builders of a Nation 

to trial for worshipping God contrary to the pre- 
scribed forms. As one of them said, "So long as we 
might have the Word freely preached, and the sac- 
raments administered, without preferring of idola- 
trous gear above it, we never assembled together in 
houses." For this offence twenty-four men and 
seven women were sentenced to the Bridewell, where 
they were kept a year and then were discharged. 

In 1569 the Privy Council required the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury to furnish the names of all 
"recusants" openly "forbearing to resort to their 
parish churches." Soon after, a visitation was or- 
dered of the parishes under his jurisdiction, which 
demanded whether any "privily use or frequent any 
kind of divine service, or common prayer, other than 
is set forth by the laws of this realm" with the men- 
tion of any "that keep any secret conventicles, 
preachings, lectures, or reading contrary to the 
laws," or any "suspected of heresy, or that maintain 
any erroneous opinions." In 1571 Parliament legal- 
ized the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of Eng- 
land and required subscription to the same by all 
clergymen. Any minister teaching anything con- 
trary to these Articles might be deprived of his 
living. 

In the meanwhile the Puritans continued to as- 
semble privately for worship, not in accordance with 
the order prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer 
but of the Geneva Service Book. To put a stop to 



Tlie Puritans 45 

such meetings the Queen ordered the Archbishop of 
Canterbury and all of her ecclesiastical commission- 
ers to require all church wardens to suffer no one 
to read, pray, preach, or minister in any church, 
chapel, or private place without license from the 
Queen ; the Archbishop, or the bishop of the diocese 
exercising all diligence in this matter at his peril. 

Owing to the disabilities under wliich the Puritans 
were suffering, two of their ministers, John Field 
and Thomas Wilcox, in 1572, prepared an "Admoni- 
tion to Parliament for the Reformation of Church 
Discipline." This "Admonition" consisted of two 
parts, the first of which set forth a complete scheme 
of reformation : "Either we must have a right min- 
istry of God and a right government of his church, 
according to the scriptures set up (both of which 
we lack), or else there can be no right religion, nor 
yet for contempt thereof can God's plagues be from 
us any while deferred." It is affirmed that "We in 
England are so far off, from having a church rightly 
reformed, according to the prescript of God's word, 
that as yet we are scarce come to the outward face 
of the same." In "a true platform of a church 
reformed" three things are essential: (1) the 
"preaching of the word purely"; (2) the "minister- 
ing of the sacraments sincerely"; and (3) "ecclesi- 
astical discipline." There is to be no ecclesiastical 
heirarchy: "Instead of an Archbishop or Lord 
bishop, you must make an equality of ministers. 



46 The Builders of a Nation 

Instead of Chancellors, Archdeacons, Officials, Com- 
missaries, Proctors, Summoners, church wardens, 
and such like, you have to plant in every congrega- 
tion a lawful and godly seignory. . . . And to these 
three jointly, that is, the ministers. Seniors and dea- 
cons, is the whole regiment of the church to be com- 
mitted.'* If a reformation is needed elsewhere it is 
needed in England: "Is a reformation good for 
France? and can it be evil for England? Is disci- 
pline meet for Scotland? And is it unprofitable for 
this realm?" If a reformation is to be effectual it 
must be thorough : "You may not do as heretofore 
you have done, patch and piece. . . . But altogether 
remove whole Antichrist, both head and tail, and 
perfectly plant that purity of the word, that sim- 
plicity of the sacraments, and that severity of disci- 
pline, which Christ hath commanded and commended 
to his Church." 

The second part of this treatise recounts the 
Popish abuses still remaining in the Prayer Book, 
mentions the objections to the vestments, etc., and 
admonishes Parliament "to reform God's church 
according to your duties and callings." As to 
themselves the writers declare: "If this cannot be 
ordained, we will by God's grace address ourselves 
to defend his truth by suffering, and willingly lay 
our heads to the block, and this shall be our peace, 
to have quiet consciences with our God." The gov- 
ernment regarded this "Admonition'* as libelous, and 



The Puritans 47 

being unable to put a stop to its circulation, it being 
reprinted several times, committed Field and Wilcox 
to prison. They appealed to Burghley, the Lord 
Treasurer, but being indicted under the Act of 
Uniformity they were returned to Newgate. 

John Whitgift, Master of Trinity and Vice-Chan- 
cellor of Cambridge, was authorized by Archbishop 
Parker to reply to this "Admonition." A "Second 
Admonition" thereupon appeared, which was written 
by Thomas Cartwright who had been Lady Mar- 
garet Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, but had 
been ejected from his professorship because of his 
Puritan teachings. In this "Admonition" he com- 
plains that "The laws of the land, the book of com- 
mon prayer, the Queen's Injunctions, the Commis- 
sioners' advertisements, the Bishops' late Canons, 
Lindwood's Provincials, every bishop's Articles in 
his diocese, my Lord of Canterbury's sober caveats 
in his licenses to preachers, and his high Court of 
prerogative, or grave fatherly faculties, these to- 
gether, or the worst of them (as some of them be too 
bad) may not be broken or offended against, but 
with more danger than to offend against the Bible." 
To this "Second Admonition" Whitgift issued a re- 
ply which in turn was answered by Cartwright in 
1573, supplemented two years later by a "Second 
Reply" to Whitgift, part of which, however, was 
not published until 1577. 

These controversial writings of Whitgift and Cart- 



48 The Builders of a Nation 

wright are of importance because they treat the 
points at is^sue between the Church and the Puritans. 
Cartwright contends that the Bible and the Bible 
only is the rule of faith and discipline; that all pas- 
tors are of equal rank and that the authority claimed 
by the hierarchy is illegitimate; that the people 
should have a voice in the appointment of their min- 
isters and that for the sovereign, or a bishop, or a 
private patron to impose a minister upon a con- 
gregation without its consent was tyranny. Whit- 
gift, on the contrary, holds that the Scriptures lay 
down no exact form of church government and dis- 
cipline and no specific rules for the conduct of 
Christian worship, but that many things must be 
left to the judgment and control of the church. He 
says: "The Scriptures speaketh not one word of 
standing, sitting, or kneeling at the Communion ; of 
meeting in churches, fields, or houses, to hear the 
Word of God; of preaching in pulpits, chairs, or 
otherwise; of baptizing in fonts, basons, or rivers, 
openly or privately, at home or in the church. . . . 
And yet no man (as I suppose) is so simple to think 
that the Church hath no authority to take order in 
these matters." 

Cartwright replies that much must be left to the 
Church, respecting the details of polity and worship, 
but it cannot be conceded that the Church has power 
to change things which God hath established: "to 
make a new ministry by making an archbishop; to 



The Puritans 49 

alter the ministry that is appointed by making a 
bishop or pastor without a church or flock ; to make 
a deacon without appointing him his church whereof 
he is a deacon, and where he might exercise his 
charge of providing for the poor ; to abrogate clean 
both the name and the office of the elders. ... Of 
the which there is no time nor place nor person nor 
any other circumstance which can cause any altera- 
tion or change." 

In 1575 Archbishop Parker, who had stood for 
the prerogatives of the Establishment and had loy- 
ally supported the Queen in her efforts to suppress 
non-conformity, died and was succeeded by Edmund 
Grindal, then Archbishop of York and formerly 
Bishop of Lincoln. He was inclined to deal more 
leniently with the Puritans than his predecessor 
had done. About 1571 religious exercises called 
"prophesyings" came into vogue at Northampton. 
These "prophesyings" in which the rpinisters of the 
town and neighborhood participated, were held on 
Saturday mornings, at first fortnightly and after- 
wards every week. A sermon would be preached upon 
a previously assigned passage of scripture, followed 
by briefer expositions upon the same topic by two 
or three other speakers. Occasionally a layman 
would venture to speak and received respectful at- 
tention. These "prophesyings" attained great 
popularity and soon extended to various parts of 
England. Some of the bishops looked with favor 



50 The Builders of a Nation 

upon these exercises, but Parker assured the Queen 
that they were but the auxiliaries of Puritanism and 
non-conformity, whereupon she ordered him to sup- 
press them. When Grindal was appointed Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, instead of attempting to sup- 
press the "prophesyings," he sought only to correct 
the abuses that had arisen. The Queen rebuked him 
for what he had done and declared that she would 
have no more of them. On December 20, 1576, he 
wrote a letter to her saying: "I am forced, — with 
all humility, and yet plainly, — to profess that I can- 
not with safe conscience, and without offence of the 
majesty of God, give my assent to the suppressing 
of the said exercises, much less can I send out any 
injunction for the utter and universal subversion 
of the same. If it be your Majesty's pleasure, for 
this or any other cause to remove me out of this 
place, I will, with all humility, yield thereunto. . . . 
Bear with me, I beseech You, Madam, if I choose, 
rather to offend your earthly Majesty, than to 
offend the heavenly Majesty of God." Enraged at 
his presumption Elizabeth suspended Grindal from 
office and ordered him to be confined to his palace 
until he should submit. The Queen then ordered a 
letter to be dispatched to the various bishops direct- 
ing them to see that the "prophesyings" were imme- 
diately suppressed. After five years the suspension 
was removed, Grindal having written the Queen that 
he was sorry that he had offended her, a matter 



Tlie Puritans 61 

more grievous to him than an}- other earth.ly calam- 
ity. He acknowledged no wrong, only that he had 
offended the Queen and for that he was sorry. 

Grindal died in 1583 and was succeeded by Wliit- 
gift, who had scarcely more than entered upon his 
arch-episcopal duties, when he issued his famous 
Articles: "1. That all preaching, catchising, and 
praying in any private house, where any are present 
besides the family, be utterly extinguished. 2. 
That none do preach, or catechise, except also he 
will read the whole service, and administer the sac- 
raments four times a year. 3. That all preachers, 
and others in ecclesiastical orders, do at all times 
wear the habits prescribed. 4. That none be ad- 
mitted to preach, unless he be ordained according 
to the manner of the Church of England. 5. That 
none be admitted to preach, or execute any part of 
the ecclesiastical function, unless he subscribe the 
following articles: (a) That the queen hath, and 
ought to have, the sovereignty and rule over all 
manner of persons bom within her dominions, of 
what condition soever they be; and that none other 
power or potentate hath, or ought to have, any 
power, ecclesiastical or civil, within her realms or 
dominions, (b) That the Book of Common Prayer, 
and of ordering bishops, priests, and deacons, con- 
taineth in it nothing contrary to the word of God, 
but may be lawfully used ; and that he himself will 
use the same, and none other, in public prayer, and 



62 The Builders of a Nation 

administration of the sacraments, (c) That he 
alloweth the Book of Articles agreed upon in the 
Convocation holden in London in 1562, and set forth 
by her Majesty's authority; and he believe all thp 
articles therein contained to be agreeable to the 
word of God." 

A new Ecclesiastical Commission was appointed 
to enforce the policy of the Archbishop and for their 
guidance he drew up twenty-four articles to be used 
in examining such as were suspected of non-con- 
formity. A jury could be dispensed with, and if wit- 
nesses were wanting the accused could be compelled 
to take the ex-officio oath by which he was forced to 
bear testimony against himself and incriminate 
others. Short work was made with recusants : Did 
they wear the surplice? Had they omitted the sign 
of the cross in baptism or the use of the ring in 
marriage? Had they required communicants to kneel 
at Communion? Had they ever said there were 
parts of the Prayer Book contrary to the Word of 
God? Did they thi/nk that there was anything in 
the Book contrary to God's Word? These questions 
they were compelled to answer and if they refused 
they could be committed for contempt. 

The privy council remonstrated against the 
methods of the Archbishop. Lord Burghley, the 
Royal treasurer, said of the articles: "I find them 
so curiously penned, so full of branches and cir- 



The Puritans 63 

cumstances, that I think the Inquisition of Spain 
use not so many questions to comprehend and en- 
trap their preys.'* Whitgift replied that he had 
followed the methods which had been used in other 
courts and declared that the people against whom 
these articles had been aimed worked in secret, so 
that it was impossible to procure witnesses. So 
thorough were Whitgift's efforts to secure uni- 
formity and uproot non-conformity that at one time 
towards the close of Elizabeth's reign and his own 
life, one-third of all the beneficed clergy in England 
were suspended. 

During his primacy the Puritans were hampered 
in many ways. The freedom of the press was re- 
stricted. Printing was not permitted outside of 
London or the two universities, Oxford and Cam- 
bridge. The number of printers was reduced and 
no book or pamphlet could be published without the 
consent of the Archbishop or the Bishop of London. 
Notwithstanding these restrictions, a series of 
anonymous pamphlets, known as the Martin Mar- 
Prelate Tracts, appeared in 1588-1589. These book- 
lets were printed upon a fugitive press which was 
traced from Kingston-upon-Thames to Fawsley 
Manor in Northamptonshire; Coventry; Newton 
Lane in Manchester ; and Woolston in Warwickshire. 
After one press had been seized by the authorities 
another was secured and the printing went on until 



54 The Builders of a Nation 

seven tracts had been published, viz. : The Epistle, 
The Epitome, The Minerall Conclusions, Hay Any 
Worke for Cooper, Martin Junior, Martin Senior, 
and The Protestation. 

The language of these writings was somewhat 
coarse but brutally frank, and the clergy from the 
highest to the lowest were unmercifully scored. In 
the conclusion of the first tract Martin with easy 
familiarity addressed the bishops : "Preach faith, 
and swear no more by it. Give over your Lordly 
callings ; reform your families and your children : 
they are the pattern of looseness. . . . Pray her 
Majesty to forgive you, and the Lord, first, to put 
away your sins. . . . Write no more against the 
cause of Reformation ; your ungodliness is made more 
manifest by your writings. Rail no more in the 
pulpit against good men ; you do more hurt to your- 
selves and your own desperate cause, in one of your 
railing sermons that you could in speaking for Ref- 
ormation. . . . Study more than you do, and preach 
oftener; favor nonresidents and papists no longer; 
labor to cleanse the ministry of the swarms of 
ignorant guides, wherewith it hath been defiled. 
Make conscience of breaking the Sabbath by bowling 
and tabling; be ringleaders of profaneness no longer 
unto the people ; take no more bribes ; leave your 
simony; favor learning more than you do, and 
especially godly learning. . . . All in a word, become 
good Christians, and so shall you become good sub- 



The Puritans 66 

jects, and leave your tyranny. And I would advise 
you, let me hear no more of your evil dealing." 

Although championing their cause Mar-Prelate 
gave offence to some of the Puritans. In his 
EpitoTne he complains: "The Puritans are angry 
with me; I mean the Puritan preachers. And why? 
Because I am too open; because I jest. ... I did 
think that Martin should not have been blamed of the 
Puritans for telling the truth openly.'* In Hay Any 
WorTce for Cooper he justifies his course: "I am not 
disposed to jest in this serious matter. I am called 
Martin Mar-Prelate. There be many that greatly 
dislike my doings. I may have my wants I know; 
for I am a man. But my course I know to be or- 
dinary and lawful. I saw the cause of Christ's 
government, and of the Bishops' antichristian deal- 
ing to be hidden. The most part of men could not 
be gotten to read anything written in the defence 
of the one, and against the other. I bethought me, 
therefore, of a way whereby men might be drawn 
to do both ; perceiving the humors of men in these 
times (especially of those that are in any place) 
to be given to mirth. I took that course. I might 
lawfully do it. Aye, for jesting is lawful by circum- 
stances, even in the greatest matters. The circum- 
stances of time, place, and persons urged me there- 
unto. I never profaned the Word in any jest. 
Other mirth I used as a covert, wherein I would 
bring the truth into light. The Lord being the 



56 The Builders of a Nation 

author both of mirth and gravity, is it not lawful in 
itself, for the truth to use either of these ways, when 
the circumstances do make it lawful?" 

The publication of these pamplilets created a de- 
cided sensation. The bishops were furious and 
sought to apprehend the author and printer. A 
proclamation was issued forbidding the reading and 
owning of such "libels" and all having knowledge 
of them were required to give notice to the authori- 
ties within thirty days. The efforts to restrict their 
circulation had the opposite effect. They were 
secretly sold at fairs and in the market places. Uni- 
versity students concealed them in their gowns. The 
Earl of Essex presented a copy to the Queen. Giles 
Wigginton, when accused of having a hand in the 
distribution of the Epistle testified having heard by 
hearsay "that many Lords and Ladies, and other 
great and wealthy personages of all estates, have 
had and read it." Notwithstanding the efforts to 
unearth the writer of these satires, his name remains 
a mystery to this day.* 

By way of reprisal, perhaps, for the Mar-Prelate 
tracts. Parliament, in 1593, enacted a law providing 

* Mr. Maskell in his "History of the Martin Mar-Prelate 
Controversy" (p. 222) offers the suggestion that several in- 
dividuals collaborated in the authorship of the tracts. Edward 
Arber in his "Infroductory Sketch to the Martin Mar-Prelate 
Controversy" (pp. 193-196) attributes the authorship to John 
Penry and Throckmorton jointly. In this "Congregation^ 
alism as seen in its Literature" (pp. 192-203) Henry M. Dex- 
ter presents strong grounds for the belief that Henry Barrowe 
was the author, but F. J. Powicke in his "Henry Barrowe, 



The Puritans 57 

that "any person or persons, above the age of six- 
teen years," who "shall obstinately refuse to re- 
pair to some Church," or "persuade any of Her 
Majesty's subjects" to deny "Her Majesty's power 
and authority in Causes Ecclesiastical," or shall 
"persuade any other person whatsoever to forbear 
or abstain from coming to Church," or "to come to 
or be present, at any unlawful assemblies, conven- 
ticles, or meetings, under color or pretence of any 
Exercise of Religion, contrary to Her Majesty's" 
laws, shall, upon conviction, "be committed to prison 
— without bail or mainprise until they shall conform 
and yield themselves to come to some Church, Chapel, 
or usual place of Common Prayer," and should they 
refuse to recant "within three months, they shall 
abjure the realm, and go into perpetual banishment ; 
and if they do not depart within the time appointed, 
or if they return without the queen's license, they 
shall suffer death without benefit of the clergy." 

Notwithstanding these attempts at suppression 
under Elizabeth, the Puritans continued to increase 
in numbers throughout her long and eventful reign. 
The strength of Puritanism at this time is evident 

Separatist" (pp. 82-85) contests the conclusions of Dr. Dexter 
and argues that Barrowe could not have written the tracts, 
but he offers no suggestions as to who did write them. The 
most recent investigator in this field, William Pierce, in his 
"An Historical Introduction to the Marprelate Tracts" (pp. 
255-308) expresses the opinion that Job Throckmorton was the 
write but admits "that the identification of Job Throckmorton 
as Marprelate is not complete." 



58 The Builders of a Nation 

from the fact that on her death in 1603, when James 
was on his way to London to assume the crown, he 
was presented by the Puritan clergy with a monster 
petition, known as the Millenary Petition, which was 
supposed to have the signatures of a thousand min- 
isters, although as a matter of fact, on account of 
the brevity of the time, it had but eight hundred 
and twenty-five. In this petition they requested that 
the sign of the cross in baptism and the obligatory 
use of the ring in marriage be omitted ; that the rite 
of confirmation, bowing at the name of Jesus, read- 
ing lessons from the Apocrypha, the use of cap and 
surplice, and such terms as "priest," "absolution," 
etc., be discontinued; that the church service be 
abridged and the music made plainer and simpler ; 
that the Lord's day be hallowed; that none be made 
ministers who were unable to preach and that the 
abuses of non-residence be remedied ; that candidates 
for Communion be examined as to their fitness; and 
that discipline be enforced more strictly. 

Surely these requests were moderate. There was 
nothing revolutionary about them. No changes in 
the government of the church were asked. All that 
the Puritans demanded was the correction of certain 
abuses within the church. The signers of this peti- 
tion had hopes that their requests might be granted. 
The king had been reared in the Presbyterian 
Church of Scotland, and had spoken disparagingly 
of the English Church, saying that "its service was 



The Puritans 59 

but an evil said mass in English, wanting nothing 
but the liftings." In their Petition the Puritans 
had expressed a readiness to explain their wishes 
more fully, either by writing or "by conference 
among the learned." 

While James received the petition somewhat 
grievously he acceded to the latter request and ap- 
pointed a conference to be held at Hampton Court 
in January, 1604. The Puritans were represented 
by Dr. Rainolds, Dr. Sparke, Mr. Chadderton, and 
Mr. Knewstubs. These men, if not openly snubbed 
and insulted, were treated with scant courtesy by 
the eighteen representatives of Anglicanism to whose 
side the king had already committed himself. "No 
bishop, no king" was the expression which he had 
used in stating his position. Of Christian liberty he 
declared, "I will have none of that; I will have one 
doctrine and one discipline, one Religion in sub- 
stance, and in ceremony." To the Puritans he said, 
"I have lived among this sort of men ever since I 
was ten years old, but I may say of myself, as 
Christ did of himself: Though I have lived among 
them, yet since I had ability to judge, I was never 
of them, neither did anything make me more to con- 
demn, and detest their courses, than that they did 
so peremptorily disallow of all things, which had 
at all been used in Popery." In reply to some plea 
on behalf of presbyters in the churches, he retorted 
that it "as well agreeth with a Monarchy, as God 



60 The Builders of a Nation 

and the Devil. Then Jack and Tom, and Will and 
Dick, shall meet, and at their pleasure censure me, 
and my Council, and all our proceedings." After 
asking Dr. Rainolds if they had any further objec- 
tion to make, he said, "If this be all that they have 
to say, I shall make them conform themselves, or I 
will harry them out of the land, or else do worse." 
Bishop Bancroft thanked God for giving them such 
a king "as since Christ's time the like had not been," 
while Wliitgift declared that "he was fully per- 
suaded, his Majesty spake by the instinct of the 
Spirit of God.'' 

At the Convocation which met in London the sum- 
mer following, and at which Bancroft, who soon 
after was appointed Archbishop, Whitgift having 
died, presided, one hundred and sixty-one canons 
were adopted, declaring that to affirm that the 
Church of England as established by law is not a 
true and apostolic Church; that the form of wor- 
ship as set forth in the Prayer Book, or the forms 
for administering the Sacraments, the forms used in 
making bishops, priests, and deacons, or in the rites 
and ceremonies of the church, or in the government 
of the church by archbisliops, bishops, deans, arch- 
deacons, etc., is repugnant to the Word of God, is 
an offence punishable by excommunication. All who 
separate from the state church and form new re- 
ligious societies become ipse facto excommunicate. 
All persons maintaining that such meetings, assem- 



The Puritans 61 

blies, or congregations are true and lawful churches 
are also excommunicated. As a result of these regu- 
lations, promulgated soon after by royal authority, 
three hundred ministers were driven from their liv- 
ings. 

From the turn which affairs were taking it was 
evident that the Puritans had as little to hope for 
under James as they had under Elizabeth. King 
James, called in derision "the wisest fool in Chris- 
tendom," was vain, opinionated, self-willed, and ob- 
stinate, by no means disposed to favor those who 
sought a further reformation of the church, with the 
consequence that conditions became even more 
intolerable than they had been before, so that many, 
both Puritans and Separatists, were obliged to flee 
from the kingdom. 



CHAPTER ni 



THE SEPARATISTS 



Puritanism, so far at least as its immediate ob- 
jects were concerned, had failed. The Puritans 
wished to abolish the use of vestments, to eliminate 
all traces of Romanism from the church services, 
and to organize the English church upon the 
Genevan model, in which the people through their 
elders should have a voice in choosing their minis- 
ters who were to be upon a parity without such dis- 
tinctions as archbishops, diocesan bishops, deans, 
archdeacons, etc. The system which the Puritans 
advocated was essentially the Presbyterianism of 
Scotland and Geneva. The church was still to be a 
national church, a church composed of all baptized 
and non-excommunicate inhabitants of England. 
According to the program of the Puritans this sys- 
tem was to be established not by withdrawing from 
the state church, but by bringing the state church 
into conformity with this model. The Church of 
England was to remain, but through the regular 
channels of the law it was to become a Presbyterian 
rather than an Episcopal church. For this the 

62 



The Separatists 63 

Puritans had hoped and waited. Their hopes for 
a further reformation rested upon the king, but 
when James I came to the throne he was as little 
disposed to favor their program as Elizabeth had 
been before him, and so for the time being every 
prospect of realizing their hopes and establishing 
Presbyterianism was ended. 

Among the Puritans there were a few, in compari- 
son with the others a very few indeed, who believed 
in a further reformation without tarrying for any, 
and who cut the Gordian knot by withdrawing or 
separating from the state church. These were the 
Separatists who believed in the separation of church 
and state, so far at least as the control of the church 
by the state was concerned, and who set up separate 
congregations of their own. Tlie earliest traces of 
the Separatists are found in Queen Mary's reig^. 
Governor Bradford in his "Dialogues" says: "In 
the days of Queen Elizabeth there was a separated 
church whereof Mr. Fitz was pastor, and another 
before that in the time of Queen Mary, of which 
Mr. Rough was pastor, or teacher, and Cuthbert 
Symson a deacon, who exercised among themselves, 
as other ordinances, so church censures, as excom- 
munications, etc." 

In his "Acts and Monuments** Fox informs us 
that the church of which Rough was pastor, at first 
numbered about forty members, then rose to a hun- 
dred and sometimes to two hundred. An informer, 



^he Builders of a NaTwn 

who went to their meetings to betray them, testified 
that besides their minister, who at the time he was 
there was a Scotchman, they had "two deacons that 
gather money which is distributed to the prisoners, 
their brethren in the Marshalsea, the King's Bench, 
the Lollards' Tower, and in Newgate, and also the 
poor that cometh to the assembly." They addressed 
each other as "brother," read together, talked to- 
gether, and elected their own officers. To escape 
detection they met at various times and in various 
places. Near the end of 1557 they were arrested 
at Islington where they had met "for their godly 
and customable exercises of prayer and hearing the 
Word of God." Shortly afterwards their pastor, 
John Rough, was burned at the stake at Smithfield. 
Cuthbert Symson was not put to death until March 
28, 1558. Thrice the good deacon was put upon 
the rack and tortured to reveal the names of his 
brethren, but he steadfastly refused and like his 
pastor received a martyr's crown. 

Grindal, in a letter to Bullinger in 1568, writes of 
a Separatist Church in London : "Some London 
citizens of the lowest order, together with four or 
five ministers, remarkable neither for their judg- 
ment nor learning, have openly separated from us ; 
and sometimes in private houses, sometimes in the 
fields, and occasionally even in ships, they have held 
their meetings, and administered the Sacraments. 
Besides this, they have ordained ministers, elders, 



The Separatists 65 

and deacons, after their own way, and have even 
excommunicated some who had seceded from their 
church. . . . The number of this sect is about two 
hundred, but consisting more of women than men. 
The Privy Council have lately committed the heads 
of this faction to prison, and are using every means 
to put a timely stop to this sect." 

The church, to which Grindal refers, is the one 
mentioned, perhaps, by Bradford in his "Dialogues" 
and concerning which Dr. Waddington discovered 
additional information in three documents in the 
Public Record Office, London. The most important 
of these is a petition in manuscript, signed by 
twenty-seven members of the church, in which they 
describe themselves as "We a poor congregation 
whom God hath separated from the Church of Eng- 
land, and from the mingled and false worshipping 
therein used, out of which assemblies the Lord our 
only Savior hath called us. ... So as God giveth us 
strength at this day, we do serve the Lord every 
Sabbath day in houses, and so on the fourth day 
of the week we meet or come together for prayer and 
exercise discipline on them which do deserve it.'* 

They state that the ministers of the Canon Law 
"have, by long imprisonment, pined and killed the 
Lord's servants (as our minister, Richard Fitz, 
Thomas Rowland, deacon, one Partridge, and Giles 
Fowler, and besides them a great multitude) — whose 
good cause and faithful testimony, though we should 



66 The B wilder s of a Nation 

cease to groan and cry unto our God to redress such 
wrongs and cruel handlings of his poor remnant, 
the very walls of the prisons about this city — as 
the Gatehouse, Bridewell, the Counters, the King's 
Bencli, the Marshalsea, and the White Lion — would 
testify God's anger kindled against this land for 
such injustice and subtile persecution.'* 

A second document gives the reasons for sep- 
arating from the Church of England, and prays that 
God may "give us strength still to strive in suffering 
under the cross, that the blessed Word of our God 
alone may rule and have the highest place." 

The third document setting forth "The True 
Markes of Christ's Church^, etc." printed in black 
letter and signed by the pastor, Richard Fitz, is a 
reply to slanderous reports about the church. The 
marks by which the true Church is distinguished are : 
"First and foremost, the glorious word and Evangel 
preached, not in bondage and subjection, but freely 
and purely. Secondly, to have the Sacraments min- 
istered purely only and altogether according to the 
institution and good word of the Lord Jesus, with- 
out any tradition or invention of man ; and Last of 
all, to have not the filthy canon law, but discipline 
only and altogether agreeable to the same heavenly 
and Almighty Word of our good Lord Jesus Christ." 

These earliest Separatist churches seem to have 
had little influence in shaping the Separatist move- 
ment, except such perhaps as their scattered mem- 



The Separatists 67 

bers may have exerted in becoming identified with 
later Separatist churches. The one man above 
all others to whom the Separatists were indebted for 
the statement of their principles and in giving an 
impetus to the movement was Robert Browne, after 
whom the Separatists were called in derision Brown- 
ists. Shakespeare so alludes to them.* Browne was 
bom in Rutlandshire about 1550. He came from a 
prominent family, which had an estate at Tolethorp, 
and was related to that of Lord Burghley, Royal 
Treasurer under Queen Elizabeth. He was educated 
at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, receiving his 
B.A. in 1572. While there he became imbued with 
the principles of Puritanism. 

After graduation he went to the neighborhood of 
London, probably Southwark, where he tells us he 
taught "scholars for the space of three years." 
Here he may have come into contact with some of 
the members of the Separatist Church of which 
Richard Fitz had been the minister. At this time he 
says that "he wholly bent himself to search and find 
out the matters of the church, as how it was to be 
guided and ordered, and what abuses there were 
in the ecclesiastical government then used." He was 
also in the habit of preaching on Sundays to scat- 
tered companies of Christian people who gathered 
in the fields and gravel pits about Islington, where 

* "I had as lief be a Brownist as a politician." Twelfth 
Night, Act III, Scene II. 



68 The Builders of a Nation 

John Rough, the Separatist minister, and Cuthbert 
Symson, his deacon, had been seized in the days of 
Queen Mary. It was doubtless on account of these 
activities that he got into trouble with "the preacher 
of the town" and with some of the people because 
of the principles of religious reformation which he 
had espoused. He was therefore dismissed from his 
school, but he continued teaching in the same place 
until the plague came, when he returned to his home 
in Rutlandshire. 

Soon after he returned to Cambridge and began 
the study of theology at Dry Drayton, under the 
direction of Rev. Richard Greenham, a prominent 
Puritan minister, who encouraged him to exercise his 
gifts in preaching, with such success that he was 
invited by the Ma3'or, Vicc-Chancellor and others to 
preach in one of the churches at Cambridge. About 
this time he began to question the authority of the 
bishops "by whom many mischiefs are wrought," 
"To be authorized of them, to be swome, to sub- 
scribe, to be ordained and receive their licensing, he 
utterly misliked and kept himself clear in those mat- 
ters." His friends obtained for him a bishop's 
license, June 6, 1579, which he refused to accept. 
His hearers "gathered him a stipend" but he re- 
turned it and "gave them warning of his departure." 
The mental stress through which he had been pass- 
ing brought on an illness, during which he was for- 
bidden to preach any longer. On his recovery he 



The Separatists 69 

reached the conclusion that "the kingdom of God 
was not to be begun by whole parishes, but rather 
of the worthiest, were they never so few — that if 
there were not only faults but also open and abom- 
inable wickedness in any parish or company, and 
they would not or could not redress them — then 
every true Christian was to leave such parishes, 
and seek the Church of God wheresoever." 

Not long afterwards Browne went to Norwich and 
with Robert Harrison, who had accepted like views, 
there organized a Separatist Church from among 
those who were dissatisfied with the Establishment. 
Browne describes the formation of this church : 
"There was a day appointed and an order taken 
for redress of the former abuses, and for cleaving 
to the Lord in greater obedience. So a covenant 
was made and their mutual consent was given to 
hold together. There were certain chief points 
proved unto them by the Scriptures, all which being 
particularly rehearsed unto them with exhortation, 
they agreed upon them, and pronounced their agree- 
ment to each thing particularly, saying to 'this we 
give our consent.' " They agreed "to join them- 
selves to the Lord in one covenant and fellowship 
together, and to keep and seek agreement under his 
laws and government." They repudiated "such like 
disorders and wickedness as was mentioned before" 
(viz.: the abuses of the English Church). "They 
agreed of those which should teach them, and watch 



70 The Builders of a Nation 

for the salvation of their souls, whom they allowed 
and did clioose as able and meet for that charge." 
They adopted an order of service "for prayer, 
thanksgiving, reading of the Scriptures, for exhor- 
tation and edifying, either by all men which had 
the gift or by those which had special charge before 
others." If anything was said which "seemed doubt- 
ful and hard" to any of the members, opportunity 
was to be afforded for asking explanations. It was 
agreed that "any might protest, appeal, complain, 
exhort, dispute, reprove, etc., as he had occasion 
but yet in due order." They covenanted to "further 
the kingdom of God in themselves, and especially in 
their charge and household, if they have any, and 
in their friends and companions and whosoever was 
worthy. Furthermore they particularly agreed of 
the manner how to watch to disorders and reform 
abuses." 

Browne and Harrison are supposed to have been 
chosen pastor and teacher of the church at this 
time. However, they did not confine their efforts to 
Norwich, but propagated their doctrines throughout 
all that region. At Bury St. Edmunds Bro^\^le was 
arrested, in 1581, at tlie instance of the Bishop of 
Norwich, who accused him of having taught 
"strange and dangerous doctrine in all disordered 
manner," and of having "greatly troubled the whole 
country, and brouglit many to great disobedience of 
all law and masristrates." Harrison seems to have 



The Separatists 71 

been arrested at the same time, for in a "Little 
Treatise" published by him in 1583 he says that he 
could have escaped but did not think it lawful to 
withdraw into any other place for the sake of liberty 
until he had borne open witness for this cause. After 
their release they went to Middleberg in Zealand 
with their followers and there established a Sep- 
aratist Church. 

At Middleberg, Browne wrote and published sev- 
eral controversial works, including "A Treatise of 
Reformation •without Tarrying for Anie, and of the 
wickednesse of those Preachers, which wUl not re- 
forme till the Magistrate commav/nde or compell 
them'' and "A Booke which Shemeth the life and 
mammers of all true Christians and home vnlike they 
are vnto Turkes and Papist es, and Heathen folke" 
besides "A Treatise vpon the 23d of Matthew" 

In these works Browne elaborated his system as 
he found it taught in the Scriptures : "The Church 
planted or gathered is a company or number of 
Christians or believers, which, by a willing covenant 
made with their God, are under the government of 
God and Christ, and keep his laws in one holy com- 
munion, because Christ hath redeemed them unto 
holiness and happiness for ever, from which they 
were fallen by the sin of Adam." 

"The Church Government is the Lordship of 
Christ in the communion of his offices : whereby his 
people obey to his Will, and have mutual use of their 



72 The Builders of a Nation 

graces and callings, to further their godliness and 
welfare." 

"The Kingdom of all Christians is their office of 
guiding and ruling with Christ, to subdue the wicked 
and make one another obedient to Christ. Their 
priesthood is their office of cleansing and redressing 
wickedness, whereby sin and uncleanness is taken 
away from amongst them. . . . Their prophecy is 
their office of judging all things by the Word of God, 
whereby they increase in knowledge and wisdom 
among themselves." 

In the church there are various officers, some of 
divine appointment such as apostles, prophets, and 
evangelists "who have their several charges over 
many churches" but who belong to the past rather 
than the present, while in the individual church there 
are pastor, teacher, elders, deacons and widows "who 
have their several charge in one church only." The 
duties of these officers he defines as follows : "The 
Pastor, or lie which hath the gift of exhorting, and 
applying especially. The Teacher, or he which 
hath the gift of teaching especially : and less gift of 
exhorting and applying. They which help unto them 
both in overseeing and counselling, as the most for- 
ward or Elders. . . . The Relievers or Deacons, 
which are to gather and bestow the chui-ch liberality. 
The Widows, which are to pray for the clmrch, with 
attendance to the sick and afflicted thereof." These 
officers, however, do not stand between Clirist and 



The Separatists 73 

the ordinary believer; they "have the grace and 
office of teaching and guiding"; but "every one of 
the church is made a King, a Priest, and a Prophet 
under Christ, to uphold and further the kingdom of 
God." 

These officers — Pastors, Teachers and Elders, de- 
rived their "office and message of God" and not from 
the people, it being the function of the Church 
merely to discover "who is meet to be chosen" for 
these offices. "The gatheri/ng of voices and consent 
of the people is a general inquiry who is meet to be 
chosen ; when first it is appointed to them all, being 
duly assembled, to look out such persons among 
them ; and then the number of the most which agree 
is taken by some of the wisest, with presenting and 
naming of the parties to be chosen, if none can 
allege any cause or default against them." Those 
who were thus chosen were to be ordained "by some 
of the forwardest and wisest" in "pronouncing them 
with prayer and thanksgiving, and laying on of 
hands . . . that they are called and authorized of 
God, and received of their charge to that calling." 

In Browne's judgment the Elders constituted a 
sort of permanent church Council, having a general 
superintendence over the members. ''Eldership is a 
joining or partaking of the authority of Elders, or 
forwardest and wisest in a peaceable meeting, for 
redressing and deciding of matters in particular 
churches and for counsel therein." 



74 The Builders of a Nation 

The individual churches were not independent or- 
ganizations, but as separate bodies they had duties 
one to another in "synods" which were the "meetings 
of sundry churches : which are when the weaker 
churches seek help of the stronger, for deciding or 
redressing of matters or else the stronger look to 
them for redress." The authority of such he ex- 
plains: "Therefore the meetings together of many 
churches, also of every whole church, and of the 
elders therein, is above the Apostle, above the 
Prophet, the Evangelist, the Pastor, the Teacher, 
and every particular Elder. For the joining and 
partaking of many churches together, and of the 
authority which many have, must needs be greater 
and more weighty than the authority of any single 
person." 

The church must be free from all state control: 
"Magistrates have no ecclesiastical authority at all, 
but only as any other Christians, if so they be Chris- 
tians. . . . The Church is God^s husbandry and not 
theirs ; it is his building, not theirs. . . . The Lord's 
kingdom is not by force, as be the kingdoms of this 
world. . . . We know that Moses might reform, and 
the judges and kings which followed him, and so may 
our magistrates: yea they may reform the church 
and command things expedient for the same. Yet 
they may do nothing concerning the church, but 
only civilly, and as civil magistrates, that is they 
have not that authority over the church, as to be 



The Separatists 75 

prophets or priests, or spiritual kings, as in all 
outward justice, to maintain the right welfare and 
honor thereof, with outward power, bodily punish- 
ment, and civil forcing of men. And therefore also 
because the church is in a commonwealth, it is of 
their charge: that is concerning the outward pro- 
vision and outward justice, they are to look to it, 
but to compel religion, to plant churches by power, 
and to force a submission to ecclesiastical govern- 
ment by laws and penalties belongeth not to them." 

The books containing these principles were sent 
over from Middleberg to England, where on June 
30, 1583, a proclamation was issued in the name of 
the Queen describing them as "sundry, seditious, 
schismatical, and erroneous printed books and libels, 
tending to the depraving of the Ecclesiastical gov- 
ernment established within this Realm." All persons 
possessing them were ordered to give them up, while 
those distributing them were threatened with the 
penalty for sedition. Even before the issuance of 
this proclamation John Copping and Elias Thacker 
were summarily hanged at Bury St. Edmunds for 
heresy and circulating the works of Browne and 
Harrison, some forty copies of their books being 
burned at the executions. About the same time 
William Dennis of Thetford in Norfolk was con- 
victed of the same crime and hanged. 

Browne's experiences in the church at Middleberg 
were not happy. Dissensions crept in. Three times 



76 The Builders of a Nation 

he resigned his pastorate and three times he was 
persuaded to resume it again. Finally in Novem^ber, 
1583, he left Harrison, with whom he had disagreed, 
at Middleberg, and with a few friends sailed for 
Scotland, where he said "the preachers having no 
names of bishops did imprison me more wrongfully 
than any bishop would have done.'* After a few 
months he returned to England, and after visiting 
Stamford began preaching at London, where he was 
rescued from the ecclesiastical authorities by Lord 
Burghley and sent to his home in Rutlandshire. 
Some months earlier, February 17, 1585, Burghley 
had written to Browne's father: "I wish he might 
better be persuaded to conform himself, for his own 
good, and yours, and his friends' comfort." This 
plea, supplemented perhaps by other influences, 
seems to have been successful for he made his 
subscription to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Oc- 
tober 7, 1585, promising to accept the English 
church as a true church, to obey its bishops, to par- 
take of its sacraments and to be quiet. His con- 
formity, however, was not very pronounced for in 
1586 he and his wife were cited to appear before the 
Bishop of Peterborough as recusants. In Novem- 
ber of that year he was appointed master of St. 
Olave's Grammar School, Southwark, subscribing 
to six articles: 1. Not to keep conventicles; 2. To 
go with the children to church; 3. To conform to 
the doctrine of the Church of England; 4. To use 



The Separatists 77 

no other catechism than that authorized by public 
authority; 5. To communicate at the parish church 
according to law; 6. And, if he be not content to 
keep these articles, no longer to keep the school- 
mastership. Bredwell, who wrote against him while 
he was still at St. Olave's, said that "the man re- 
maineth of the same judgment against the English 
assemblies, which he held before, when he passed the 
seas." 

In June, 1589, Lord Burghley wrote to the Bishop 
of Peterborough asking that Browne again be re- 
ceived into the ministry "as a means and help for 
some ecclesiastical preferment," asserting that he 
had "submitted himself to the order and government 
established in the Church." Two years later he was 
made rector at Achurch-cum-Thorpe, Northampton, 
a living in the gift of Burghley, where he remained 
for more than forty years. He was excommunicated 
in 1616 by the Bishop of Peterborough and seems, 
for about ten years, to have been under the ban. 
This perhaps is not strange for there is no evidence 
that he ever wholly renounced his earlier opinions, 
and the rumor was long current in the region where 
he lived that he preached them in secret to a little 
group that met in a private room. Thomas Fuller, 
who when a young man often saw Browne, said, "I 
will never believe that he ever formally recanted his 
opinions." 

In December, 1631, Browne was again excommu- 



78 The Builders of a Nation 

nicated, his death taking place less, than two years 
later, October, 1633. His end was as tragic as his 
life had been stormy. He was committed to North- 
ampton jail, for having struck, in a fit of passion, 
the constable of the parish who was trying to collect 
a rate. "Too infirm," said Fuller, "to go, too un- 
wieldy to ride, and no friend so favorable as to 
purchase for him a more comely conveyance," he was 
placed in a cart, on a feather bed, and carried to 
jail where he died. 

Dr. Dexter accounts for Browne's return to the 
Church of England on the ground that his reason 
had become affected by the persecutions and im- 
prisonments which he had undergone. He used to say 
"that he had been committed to thirty-two prisons, 
and in some of them he could not see his hand at 
noon day." But from some of his writings which 
have recently come to light, viz. : the ^^ Retractation ^ 
and "^ New Year's Guift" it is quite evident that 
his change of attitude towards the Establishment 
was brought about not so much because of the per- 
secutions which he had suffered as the practical 
breakdown of the experiment at Middleberg, and 
without repudiating his former views he now looked 
upon them as an ideal to be approximated so far 
as the circumstances would permit. 

Next to Browne in his influence upon the Sep- 
aratist movement was Henry Barrowe, who was born 
at Shipdam in Norfolk, about 1546. He came from 



The Separatists 79 

a good family and was educated at Cambridge, where 
he took his B.A. degree in 1570. Six years later he 
became a member of Gray's Inn, but it is uncertain 
whether he ever practiced law. For a time he seems 
to have led a vain if not a vicious life, of which Lord 
Bacon wrote: "Being a gentleman of a good house 
but one that lived in London at ordinaries and there 
learned to argue in table talk and so was very much 
known in the city and abroad, he made a leap from 
a vain and libertine youth to a preciseness in the 
highest degree, the strangeness of which alteration 
made him very much spoken of." 

Barrowe's strange and sudden conversion. Gov- 
ernor Bradford describes : "Walking in London one 
Lord*s Day with one of his companions, he heard a 
preacher at his sermon very loud as they passed 
at the church. Upon which Mr. B. said to his con- 
sort, *Let us go in, and hear what this man saith 
that is thus in earnest.' 'Tush,' saith the other, 
'what, shall we go to hear a man talk?' But he 
went and sat down. And the minister was vehe- 
ment in reproving sin, and sharply applied the judg- 
ments of God against the same ; and, it should seem, 
touched him to the quick in such things as he was 
guilty of, so as God set it home to his soul and be- 
gan to work for his repentance and conviction 
thereby, for he was so stricken as he could not be 
quiet until by conference with godly men and fur- 
ther hearing of the Word, with diligent reading and 



80 The Builders of a Nation 

meditation, God brought peace to his soul and con- 
science, after much humiliation of heart and 
reformation of life. So he left the Court and retired 
himself to a private life, some time in the country, 
and some time in the city, giving himself to study 
and reading of the Scriptures and other good works 
very diligently ; and being missed at Court by his 
consorts and acquaintances, it was quickly hinted 
abroad that Barrowo was turned Puritan." 

Barrowe not only became a Puritan but a Sep- 
aratist and was associated with John Greenwood, a 
young clergyman of the same persuasion. Green- 
wood graduated from Cambridge in 1581, and was 
ordained in the Anglican Church. He had associated 
with some of the Puritans in the university, and a 
year or two after entering upon his living had met 
with a copy of Browne's "Treatise of Reformation 
witJiout Tarrying for Anie." He was deprived of 
his benefice in 1585 by his bishop "for the disliking 
he had to the Order of the Book of Common Praj'er." 
For a time he served as chaplain to a Puritan noble- 
man. Lord Rich, at Rockford Hall in Essex. He 
and Robert Wright jointly conducted ser^^ces in the 
Hall that drew large attendances of people from 
the parish church, which brought upon him the dis- 
pleasure of the bishop. Greenwood sought refuge 
in London, where he united with a Separatist church. 
In October, 1587, with twenty others he was arrested 
*'for being at private conventicles in Henry Martin's 



The Separatists 81 

house in St. Andrews, in Wardropp" and com- 
mitted to the Clink prison. 

While in confinement at the Clink, Greenwood was 
visited by Henry Barrowe, who had no sooner gotten 
within the walls of the prison than he was arrested 
by the jailer and taken to Lambeth Palace to be 
examined by the archbishop and other officials. He 
was examined again and again, at length being 
consigned to the Fleet, where he and Greenwood 
shared the same room. Amidst incredible difficulties 
they set themselves to writing books in defence of 
their principles. They had no proper writing ma- 
terials and were obliged to use such scraps of paper 
as they could get hold of, or were secretly furnished 
them by their friends. Their writings were sent out 
of the prison "sheet by sheet," which for the most 
part were printed in Holland, without opportunity 
of reading or correcting "proof.'' Yet within six 
years they produced in this way about a thousand 
pages, four-fifths of which were mainly the work of 
Barrowe. 

His chief work was "A Brief Discoverie of the 
False Church" in which he criticizes the ministry of 
the Establishment with its archbishops, bishops, 
deans, archdeacons, etc., who have assumed func- 
tions which were never instituted by Christ. He con- 
demns the Book of Common Prayer affirming that it 
was "abstracted out of the Pope's blasphemous 
book" and even if it were the best ever devised bv 



82 TJw BuiUers of a Xation 

mortal man it ought not to be used as the uniform 
inile of prayer. Everything in the English church 
which savored of Romanism, he denounces unspar- 
ingly, and declares the Canon Law and the Ecclesi- 
astical Courts to be wholly contrary to the law of 
Christ. In fine he concludes that in "this their 
Church of England, all things appear to be out of 
frame, still in tlie old corruption, and (at the best) 
but inclining to the primitive and ancient defections 
from Christ's Testament, nothing being aright or 
according to the will of God amongst them: seeing 
wo find all those Scriptures that have foreshewed of 
Antichrist and his proceedings, truly fulfilled 
amongst them, all the marks of that painted deceit- 
ful harlot, the false and malignant Church, to be 
found upon them ; as also all the vials of God's 
wrathful judgments to be poured forth upon them; 
and all their doings." 

In his "A True Description out of the \\"ord of 
God, of the Visible Church'" published a year earlier 
we have Barrowe's views as to the true Church: 
"This church, as it is universally understood, con- 
taineth in it all the elect of God that have been, are, 
or shall be; but being considered more particularly, 
as it is seen in this present world, it consisteth of a 
company and fellowship of faithful and holy people, 
gathered in the name of Christ Jesus, their only 
King, Priest, and Prophet : worshipping Him aright, 
being peaceably and quietly governed by His officers 



The Separatists 88 

and laws; keeping the unity of faith in the bond of 
peace and love unfeigned.'" 

In the choice of officers, who were to bo ordained 
"by fasting and prayer'' with ''laying on of hands'' 
the people were to participate: ''Thus hath every 
one of the people interest in the election and ordina- 
tion of their officers, as also in the administration of 
their offices, upon transgression, offence, abuse, etc., 
having an especial care unto un^nolable order of the 
Church as is aforesaid." 

We find the same officers as Browne had described 
— pastor, teacher, elders, deacons and widows. The 
Elders, however, were entrusted with a somewhat 
larger measure of control in the management of the 
church than had been true in Browne's scheme. "The 
office of Ancients (Elders) is expressed in their 
description, their special care must be to see the 
ordinances of God truly taught and practiced, as 
well by the officers in doing their duty uprightly as 
to see that the people obey willingly and readily. It 
is their duty to see the congregation holily and 
quietly ordered, and no way disturbed by the con- 
tentious, disobedient, forward, and obstinate, not 
taking away the liberty of the least, but upholding 
the right of all, wisely judging of times and circxmi- 
stances. They must be ready assistants to the pas- 
tor and teachers, helping to bear their burden, 
but not intruding into their office." 

After five years the imprisonment of Barrowe and 



84 The Builders of a Xaihn 

Greenwood seems to have been somewhat relaxed and 
for a tune the hitter was released, but on December 
5, 159!^, ^N'ith Francis Johnson he was arrested 
while worshipping in a house on Ludgate Hill and 
again committed to prison. Barrowe was now ac- 
cused of declaring "the Queen's Majesty to be un- 
baptized," "the state to be wholly corrupteti," and 
"that all the people in the land are infidels."' Al- 
though denying and explaining these charges, on 
March I^^rd Barrowe and Greenwood were convicted 
at the Old Bailey for writing and publisliing sedi- 
tious books and sentenced to be hung the next day, 
but after their irons had been struck off and they 
were ready to be bound to the cart they were re- 
prieved. The bishops sent "certain Doctors and 
Deans to exhort and confer" with them. A week 
later they "were very early and secretly conveyed to 
the place of execution" but a second time a mes- 
senger from the Queen arrived with a reprieve. 
Barrowe now wrote to ''an honorable lady and 
countess of his kindred" stating his defence and be- 
seeching her '"to inform her ^lajesty of our entire 
faith unto God, unstained loyalty to her Highness, 
innocency and good conscience toward all men ; in 
pardoning our oflfence and judgment, or else in re- 
moving our poor worn bodies out of this miserable 
jail (the horror whereof is not to be spoken unto 
your honor) to some more honest and meet place, 
if she vouchsafe us longer to live, . . . Let not 



The Separatists 86 

therefore, right dear and elect Lady, any worldly or 
politic impediment or unlikelihoods, no fleshly fears, 
diffidence or delays, stop or hinder you from speak- 
ing to her Majesty on our behalf, before she go out 
of this city, lest we by your defavilt herein perish 
in her absence, having no assured stay or respite of 
our lives; and our malignant adversaries ready to 
watch any occasion for the shedding of our blood." 
This plea proved unavailing and on April 6, 1593, 
Barrowe and Greenwood were led forth once more to 
Tyburn and hanged. 

A few weeks later John Penry, another Separatist, 
suffered a like fate. He was bora in Wales in 1559 
and graduated at Peterhouse College, Cambridge, 
in 1583. During his stay at Cambridge he came 
under tlie influence of Puritanism. Although caring 
little at this time about the reformation of the 
church, for a pamphlet which he addressed to Par- 
liament and the Queen in behalf of the evangeliza- 
tion of Wales he was brought under the censure of 
Arclibisliop Whitgift and the Court of High Com- 
mission. Later he was connected with the publica- 
tion of the Mar-Prelate Tracts, as printer, but 
probably not as author. About 1590 he fled to 
Scotland, and altliough banished by King James he 
was sheltered by the Scotch clergy and busied him- 
self with Puritan writings. In September, 1592, he 
went to London and having embraced Separatist 
views united with the church at Southwark, of which 



86 Thv BuHdrrs of a Natian 

Barrowe aiul Greenwood wore mombers. A few 
months hiter he was eonvictod of felony under the 
statute aijainst uttorinij seditious words and rumors 
against the Queen. On INIav J2i), loDiJ, he was hanged 
at St. Tliomas-a-Watering. 

John Copping, Elias Thaeker, William Dennis, 
Henry Barrowe, John Cireenwood, and John fenry 
weix^ not tiie only martyrs to Separatism. The Eng- 
lisli prisons were filled with men and women who had 
hearkened to the admonition "Wheivfore come out 
from among them and separate yourselves'* 
(Geneva Version). Of these no fewer than twenty- 
tive, twenty men anil tive women, died in prison, 
martyrs to their faith just as truly as though they 
had perished upon the giblx^t or had Ix^en burned at 
the stake.* 

Before his exeeution Tenry, despairing of condi- 
tions in his own land, hail adilressed a letter "to 
the distressed and faithful congregation of Christ in 
London, and all the memlKM-s thereof," atlirming his 

• On the cofRn of Rojror Rippon, a Bnrnnvist, who died in 
Xewjr.'ito. liiJ>?. >VMS plnorti ttio followiiiir inscription: "lliis 
is tlu" I'orpso of Hojivr Hippon, a sonant of Christ, who is the 
last of sixttvn or sovonttvn whioli that groat ononiy of Cuxl, 
tlie Ari'hbisliop of Cantorlniry, with his High Coninnssionors, 
havo inurdort'd in Nowgalo within those fivo years, nianifestly 
for tin' testimony i>f .lesus C^hrist. His .soul is now witli t1»e 
Lord, and his hitHul erielh for sptnuly vongeanoe against tlmt 
givat oneni} of llio saints, and against Mr. Hioliard Young, (a 
justiee i>f the peaoe in London.) wlu> in tliis. and many tlie 
like points, hatli .'duiseti liis power for the withholding of 
the U»>misli autiohrisl, prelacy, and priestlKKKl." Many copies 
of tills iiiMTiption weiv circulaleil. 



The Separatists 87 

adherence to the principles for which he suffered ; 
exhorting them to pray for him and other sufferers; 
and urging them to go in a body to some other hind. 
He entreated them: "I humbly beseech you, not in 
any outward regard as I shall answer before God, 
that you would take my poor and desolate widow, 
and my mess of fatherless oi*phans with you into 
exile, whithersoever you go, and you shall find, I 
doubt not, that the blessed promises of my God, 
made unto me and mine, will accompany them, and 
even the whole ciiurch for their sakes, for this also 
is the Lord's promise unto the holy seed." 

His advice to the London church was accepted 
and as many as could made their way to Amsterdam. 
Some of the members, including their pastor, Francis 
Johnson, were in prison at the time and were unable 
to join them until later. Johnson had been an 
ardent Puritan and for a time was pastor of the 
church of the English merchants at Middlebcrg in 
Zealand. He had no leanings towards Separatism 
at this time and learned that Barrowe and Green- 
wood's books were being secretly printed at Dort. 
He received authority from the English ambassador 
to seize and bum these books. This he did, reserv- 
ing two copies which he read after the rest were 
destroyed. He was convinced tlicrcby that the Sep- 
aratists were right and he was wrong. He accord- 
ingly resigned his pastorate at Middlcberg and 
returning to England sought out Barrowe in the 



88 Tlie Builders of a Xatlon 

fleet prison, and soon after united with the Sep- 
aratist churcli, of wliicli, in 159J2, he was chosen 
pastor. Some years afterwards (in 1605) he caused 
the book, which he had burned, to be reprinted. 
The congregation to which he ministered in London 
met in diiferent places, in the fields and private 
houses, and sometimes at the dead of night for fear 
of the bishop's officers. Finally they were discov- 
ered at Islington, wliere Jolm Rough's congregation 
had met in the days of Queen Mary, and fifty-six of 
their number were taken and confined in diiferent 
prisons in and about London. Francis Johnson, 
their pastor, and John Greenwood, their teacher, 
were arrested at tlie house of Edward Boys on Lud- 
gate Hill. Greenwood was sent to the gallows, but 
Johnson, after several years' imprisonment, was re- 
leased. Li 1597 he rejoined his congregation which 
in the meantime had emigrated to Amsterdam. 

When James I came to the throne, this conffregra- 
tion sent over a deputation praying that they might 
be allowed to live in their native land in peace with- 
out "the use or approbation of any remnants of 
popery and human tradition." They also presented 
a "Supplication" in which they were joined bv their 
brethren who were still enduring ''grievous perse- 
cution" in England. 

In this "Supplication" fourteen "heads of differ- 
ences" between tliemsclves and the Church of Eng- 
land were laid down. 1. The church is a divinely 



The Separatists 89 

constituted society. 2. Every particular Church 
has "power to enjoy and practice all the ordinances" 
given by Christ to his Church. 3. "Every true 
visible Church is a company of people called and 
separated from the world by the word of God, and 
joined together by voluntary profession of the faith 
of Christ, in the fellowship of the Gospel." In tliat 
church no "Atheist, unbeliever, heretic, or wicked 
liver'* should be received or retained. 4. "Discreet, 
faithful and able men" should be appointed to 
preach the gospel. 5. Every church has power to 
choose its own officers — "Pastors, Teachers, Elders, 
Deacons, and Helpers." No Antichristian Hier- 
archy with Popes, Archbishops, Lord-bishops, Suf- 
fragans, Deans, Archdeacons, etc., should be set over 
the "Spouse and Church of Christ, nor retained 
therein." 6. Ministers should continue in the work 
of the ministry and should not bear civil offices, nor 
be burdened ^vith the execution of civil affairs such 
as "the celebration of marriage" and "burying the 
dead." 7. They that preacli the gospel should live 
of the gospel and "not by Popish Lordships and Liv- 
ings, or Jewish Tithes and Offerings" but by volun- 
tar}' contributions. 8. No congregation should be 
too large to meet for worship or the administration 
of discipline. 9. The Church should not be gov- 
erned "by Popish Canons, Courts, Classes, Customs, 
or any human inventions, but by the laws and rules 
which Christ hath appointed in his Testament." 



90 Tlie Builders of a Nation 

The Apocrypha and the Book of Common Prayer 
should not be used in worship. 10. "The Sacra- 
ments, being seals of God's covenants, ought to be 
ministered only to the faithful, and Baptism to their 
seed or those under their government." 11. All Holy 
Days except the Lord's Day should be abolished. 
12. All the monuments of idolatry such as Popish 
vestments, etc., should be done away. 13. Popish 
degrees in theology, compulsory cclibac}^ in colleges, 
"abuse of the study of profane heathen writers," 
etc., should be discontinued. 14. "Finally that all 
Churches and people (without exception) are bound 
in Religion only to receive and to submit unto that 
Constitution, Ministry, Worship and Order, which 
Christ as Lord and King hath appointed unto His 
Church ; and not to any other devised by Man what- 
soever." 

After waiting for some weeks without an answer 
to their "Supplication" it was suggested by "an 
honorable personage" that they should state as 
briefly as possible just what they desired and he 
would bring it before the king. They replied: 1. 
That they wished to live in England, just as the 
French and Dutch churches were allowed to live 
there, organizing their churches and worshipping 
God according to their o^vn conceptions of the will 
of Christ. 2. That they were loyal subjects and 
were content to leave to his Majesty the redress 
of those abuses whereof they had complained. 3. 



The Separatists 91 

That they were willing to discuss, either in writing 
or in a Conference, with such persons as his Majesty 
might appoint, the fourteen "heads of differences" 
between themselves and the Church of England. If 
any reply was made to this statement it is not 
known. At all events there was no prospect of ces- 
sation from persecution for the Separatists from a 
king who, at the Hampton Court Conference, had 
said of the Puritans, "I shall make them conform 
themselves, or I will harry them out of the land, or 
else do worse." 



CHAPTER IV 

THE CHURCH AT SCROOBY 

During the latter years of Queen Elizabeth, and 
well into the reign of King James, in spite of peril, 
persecution, and martyrdoms, the Separatists had 
steadily increased in numbers. Wlien the Act of 
1593 (described in a previous chapter), which was 
aimed as much against the Separatists as the Puri- 
tans, was under discussion in Parliament, Sir Walter 
Raleigh, addressing the House of Commons, ex- 
pressed the opinion that there were twenty thousand 
Brownists in England, chiefly in London and the 
eastern counties. There is no doubt that his esti- 
mate was greatly exaggerated, and yet in the section 
mentioned they were becoming more or less numer- 
ous. In the preface to the Confession of the London- 
Amsterdam Church in 1596 (the church of which 
Francis Johnson was pastor) allusion was made to 
the witness of Separatists in London, Norwich, 
Gloucester, and Bury St. Edmunds. In other places 
there were companies of serious-minded men and 
women, who from sciiiplcs of conscience liad with- 
drawn from the State Church and were accustomed 

92 



The Church at Scroohy 93 

to meet for worship in private homes and out-of-the- 
way places to escape the surveillance of officers of 
the crown. 

How much the early Separatists may have been 
influenced by the Anabaptists found among the 
Dutch immigrants who had settled about London 
and Norwich is uncertain. There were resemblances 
between the two, viz.: in their rejection of the State 
Church, and in their appeal to the New Testament 
as the authoritative guide in church organization 
and administration. However, when the Separatists 
were accused of being "Anabaptists" they hotly 
repudiated the charge. But if there were resem- 
blances there were diff'erences as well. The Sep- 
aratists practiced infant baptism, retained oaths, 
and recognized the duty of a Christian serving the 
state as a magistrate or soldier if occasion required, 
all of which the Mennonites and Anabaptists disal- 
lowed. The early advocates of Separatism in Eng- 
land were confident that their principles were derived 
solely from the Word of God, while the absence of 
Dutch names from their congregations makes it 
quite certain that there was no direct connection be- 
tween the two, and yet the very fact that the Separa- 
tists were numerous in the sections of England where 
Mennonites and Anabaptists were to be found would 
lead to the impression that unconsciously the former 
may have been influenced by the latter. 

Having traced the origin of the Separatist move- 



94 The Builders of a Nation 

ment and its connection with Puritanism and the 
English Refonnation, this narrative must now con- 
cern itself with one of these Separatist churches, 
viz.: the church of the Pilgrims at Scrooby. The 
origin of this church and of the Gainsborough con- 
gregation, of which it originally was a part, is in- 
volved in more or less obscurity. Just when it was 
organized is somewhat uncertain although the year 
1606 is the commonly accepted date. It seems to 
have sprung into existence in a distinctively Puritan 
atmosphere. At an earlier date the section of Eng- 
land in which Scrooby is situated had been intensely 
Roman Catholic in its sympatliies, and at the time 
of the dissolution of the monasteries had risen in 
revolt. But for some years prior to the organiza- 
tion of the Separatist churches at Gainsborough 
and Scrooby, Puritanism had gained a strong foot- 
hold. Several of the parishes in and about that 
region had been occupied by Puritan incumbents or 
lecturers. Richard Clyfton, who was described by 
Bradford as "a grave and reverend preacher, who 
by his fervor and diligence had done much good, and 
under God has been the means of the conversion of 
many," was rector for several years at Babworth, 
six or seven miles south of Scrooby. He seems to 
have been the first to preach those principles which 
led to Separatism. He became the first pastor or 
teacher of the Scrooby church and accompanied its 
members into exile to Amsterdam in 1608. 



The Church at Scroohy 95 

At Worksop, ten or twelve miles southwest of 
Scroob\', Rev. Richard Bernard, a zealous Puritan 
di^dne, was rector. He was a Cambridge graduate 
and for a time seems to have had some leanings to- 
wards Separatism, but after having been silenced 
by the Archbishop of York for non-conformity, he 
saw fit to renounce his former views and make his 
peace with the church. Another Puritan clergyman, 
whom Bradford describes as "hotly pursued by the 
prelates," was Robert Gifford of Laughton-en-le- 
Moi-then. Thomas Tollerton, who was known as 
"one of the most zealous Puritans" of that time and 
afterwards became vicar of Sheffield, was for a 
time a preacher or lecturer in the neighborhood of 
Scrooby. 

The ultimate outcome of this Puritan preaching 
Bradford has described: "When as by the travail 
and diligence of some godly and zealous preachers, 
and God's blessing on their labors . . . many became 
enlightened by the word of God . . . the work of God 
was no sooner manifest in them, but presently they 
were both scoffed and scorned by the profane mul- 
titude, and the ministers urged with the yoke of 
subscription, or else must be silenced; and the poor 
people were so vexed with apparitors, and pursui- 
vants, and the Commissary Courts, as truly their 
affliction was not small ; which notwithstanding, they 
bore sundry years with much patience, till they were 
occasioned (by the continuance and increase of these 



96 The Builders of a Nation 

troubles, and other means which the Lord raised up 
in those days) to see further into things by the 
light of the word of God: How not only these base 
and beggarly ceremonies were unlawful, but also 
that the lordly and tyrannous power of the prelates 
ought not to be submitted unto, wliich thus, contrary 
to the freedom of the Gospel, would load and burden 
men's consciences, and by their compulsive power 
make a profane mixture of persons and things in 
the worship of God, And that their offices and call- 
ings, courts and canons, etc., were unlawful and 
antichristian, being such as have no warrant in the 
word of God, but the same that were used in Popery 
and still retained. ... So many therefore of these 
professors as saw the evil of these things, in these 
parts, and whose hearts the Lord had touched with 
heavenly zeal for his truth, they shook off this yoke 
of antichristian bondage, and, as the Lord's free 
people, joined themselves (by a covenant of the 
Lord) into a church estate, in the fellowship of the 
Gospel, to walk in all his wa^^s, made known, or to 
be made known unto them, according to their best 
endeavors, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord 
assisting them." 

Of the date of this organization, viz. : the church 
at Gainsborough, Nathaniel Morton, Secretary to 
the Court for the jurisdiction of Plymouth and a 
nephew of Gov. Bradford, in his "New England's 
Memorial," published at Cambridge, Mass., 1669, 



The Church at Scroohy 97 

says: "In the year 1602, divers godly Christians 
of our English nation, in the north of England, be- 
ing studious of the Reformation ; and therefore not 
onl}^ witnessing against human inventions and addi- 
tions in the Worship of God, but minding most of 
the positive and practical part of Divine Institu- 
tions : they entered into Covenant to walk with God, 
and one with another, in the enjoyment of the Ordi- 
nances of God, according to the primitive pattern 
in the Word of God." 

On the assumption that John Smyth was pastor 
of the Gainsborough congregation from its organi- 
zation, the accuracy of the date given by Morton 
has been questioned. That Smyth could not have 
been connected with the Gainsborough church in 
1602 is evident from a little book entitled ^^The 
I bright Mommg Starre, or the Resolution and Ex- 
position of the 22 Psalme. Preached publicly in 
' f oure sermons at Lincoln. By John Smith, Preacher 
of the City. 1603."* Another book, printed in Lon- 
I don, was entered at Stationer's Hall, March 22, 
' 1605. It bears the title ".4 Pat erne of Ti-ve Prayer, 
j A learned and Comfortable Exposition or Commen- 
jtarie vpon the Lords Prayer — By lohn Smith, Min- 
' ister and Preacher of the Word of God." The 
"Epistle Dedicatory" states that the writer "not 



* According to the "Lincoln Corporation Minutes" ("Vol. V, 
p. 14), Smyth was dismissed from his ofBce Oct. 13, 1602. For 
some time after, however, he continued to claim the title and 
stipend, even threatening to sue the city for the latter. 



98 The Builders of a Nation 

long since," "delivered" the treatise "to the ears of 
a few: being then Lecturer in the City of Lincoln." 
This would indicate that he had already left Lin- 
coln, probably going to Gainsborough the latter 
part of 1604 or early in 1605. These facts do not 
disprove the organization of the Gainsborough 
church in 1602, they only show that Smyth could 
not have been connected with it until a later date. 

Since Smyth was not connected with the church 
from its formation, the probabilities are that the 
Gainsborough congregation originated as a lay 
movement, having at first a very loose form of or- 
ganization, the members of which entered into a 
simple covenant "to walk in all His ways, made 
known, or to be made known unto them, according to 
their best endeavors, whatsoever it should cost them, 
the Lord assisting them.'* John Murton, who prob- 
ably was present at the organization of the church, 
writing in 1620, says that "first one stood up and 
made a covenant, and then another, and these two 
joined together, and so a third, and these became 
a Church, say they." 

"These people," says Bradford, "became two dis- 
tinct bodies or churches, in regard of distance of 
place, and did congregate severally, for they 
were of sundry towns and villages, some in Notting- 
hamshire, some of Lincolnshire, and some of York- 
shire, where they border nearest together. In one 
of these churches (besides others of note) was Mr. - 



The Church at Scroohy 99 

John Smith, a man of parts, and a good preacher, 
who afterwards was chosen their pastor." 

The churches which were thus formed were at 
Gainsborough and Scrooby. John Smyth, to whom 
allusion has thus been made, like most of the early 
Separatist preachers, was a Cambridge man, enter- 
ing Christ's College in 1586 and taking his M.A. in 
1593. For a time Francis Johnson was his tutor 
and it has been conjectured that he received his first 
impulse towards Puritanism through him. He was 
ordained by William Wickham, Bishop of Lincoln. 
He seemed never to have held a benefice, but was de- 
scribed as a preacher or lecturer in the city of Lin- 
coln. John Cotton, one of the early New England 
divines, infonns us that "the tyranny of the Eccle- 
siastical Courts was harsh towards him, and the 
yokes put upon him in the ministry too grievous to 
be borne." Hearing of the "forward" people at 
Gainsborough, eighteen miles away, he came among 
them the latter part of 1604 or early in 1605. For 
a period of nine months, he wavered, uncertain as to 
what course he should pursue. During this time he 
took counsel with Richard Bernard, Arthur Hilder- 
sham, and other Puritan preachers, but in the end 
he was convinced of the "necessity of Separation" 
and cast in his lot as a private member in the Gains- 
borough congregation, of which he was finally chosen 
pastor. Whether he assumed the pastoral office 
l^efore the two churches were formed is not known, 



100 The Builders of a Nation 

but that he at once took a prominent part in the 
enterprise seems probable. 

In 1607, Smjth published at Amsterdam a little 
manual entitled **Prvnciples and inferences concern- 
ing the visible church." As so short a time had 
elapsed since the formation of the Gainsborough- 
Scrooby congregation, it is altogether likely that 
tliis "little method," as he termed it, in the main 
sets forth the principles of church order which were 
there wrought out. 

"The visible church" is "a visible communion of 
two, three, or more saints joined together by cove- 
nant with God and themselves freely to use all the 
holy things of God, according to the word, for their 
mutual edification and God's glory." This is "the 
only religious society that God hath ordained for 
men on earth," all others such as "abbeys, monas- 
teries, nunneries, cathedrals, coUegiates, parishes," 
are unlawful. 

INIcmbers are of two sorts, prophets and private 
persons. Prophets "must first be appointed to this 
exercise by the church. . . . All that have gifts may 
be admitted to prophecy. . . . Private persons are 
men and women; private men present at the exercise 
of prophecy may modestly propound their doubts 
which are to be resolved by the prophets." "Women 
are not permitted to speak in the church in time of 
prophecy. ... If women doubt of any thing delivered 
in time of prophecy and are willing to learn, they 



The Church at Scroohy 101 

must ask them that can teach them in private." "To 
this exercise of prophecy may be admitted unbe- 
lievers or they that are without." 

"Officers are of two sorts, (1) Bishops, and (2) 
Deacons. Bishops also are called Elders or Presby- 
ters. . . . The Bishops or Elders jointly together are 
called the Eldership or Presbytery. Eldership con- 
sisteth of three sorts of persons, or officers, viz. : the 
(a) Pastor; (b) Teacher; (c) Governors. All the 
Elders or Bishops must be apt to teach. — The Pas- 
tor and Teacher have also power to administer the 
Sacraments." "The Deacons collect and distribute" 
the church's funds. "Women deacons or widows" 
must be "sixty years of age" and relieve "the bodily 
infirmities of the saints." 

Officers become such by election, approbation, and 
ordination. "Election is by most voices of the mem- 
bers of the church in full communion. — Approbation 
must be after election." Ordination is the dedica- 
tion of the approved officer to his office by prayer, 
with imposition of hands. It belonged "to the whole 
church, — yet, for order's sake the fittest members 
lay on hands" and ordain in behalf of all. 

"The church's treasury is holy. None of those 
that are without may cast of their goods into the 
treasury lest the treasury be polluted." 

An excommunicated person, who "is not to be 
counted as an enemy" but "admonished as a 
brother," may be readmitted into communion upon 



102 The Builders of a Nation 

repentance, yet special watch must always be kept 
over him, 

"Every visible Church is of equal power with all 
other visible Churches. . . . The erecting of visible 
churches appertaineth to princes and private per- 
sons." 

Rev. Richard Cl3'fton, to whom allusion has al- 
ready been made, and who also was educated at Cam- 
bridge, united with the Gainsborough congregation, 
probably about 1604, when it is supposed that he 
was removed from his living at Babworth by the 
enforcement of Bancroft's canons. A year or so 
later the church received another notable accession 
in the person of Rev. John Robinson, of whom an 
antagonist, Robert Baillie, said he was "the most 
learned, polished, and modest spirit that ever sepa- 
rated from the Church of England." 

Robinson, the son of John and Ann Robinson, 
was bom at Sturton le Steeple,* Nottinghamshire, 
in 1575 or 1576. He was admitted to Corpus 
Christi College, Cambridge, in 1592, and doubtless 
while there first became indoctrinated with the leaven 
of Puritanism. In 1598 he was made a Fellow in 
the University. He 'also took orders in the English 
Church, for he aftei'r^'ards speaks of having "re- 
nounced our ministry received from the bishops, and 

* The plaoe of Robinson's birtli, hitherto unknown, has re- 
cently been brought to light by the discovery of the wills of 
his father and mother. 



The Chtirch at Scroohy 103 

do exercise another by the people's choice." Of his 
ministry we know but little except that he served 
as a preaching Elder or Curate at St. Andrew's 
Church, Norwich, where he seems to have gotten 
into trouble with the ecclesiastical authorities, prob- 
ably for his want of conformity to the ceremonies 
prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer, and 
where as Henry Ainsworth, a Separatist contem- 
porary, says "certain citizens were excommunicated 
for resorting unto and praying with Mr. Robinson, 
a man worthily reverenced of all the city for the 
graces of God in him — and to whom the care and 
charge of their souls was erewhile committed." 

From Puritanism he passed over into Separatism. 
At that time there was a Separatist church in Nor- 
wich, of which a Mr. Hunt was pastor, made up 
probably of the remnants of Browne and Harri- 
son's church, after the latter had emigrated to 
Middleberg, with others who had since joined them. 
Robinson seems to have been connected with this 
church, for in his "Second Mammtwction for Mr. 
Robinson''^ Ames said "He declared then (when he 
resigned his fellowship at Cambridge in 1604) to 
one of his acquaintance, that he had been amongst 
some company of the Separation before his coming 
to Cambridge and exercising amongst them had re- 
nounced his former ministry.'* 

Robinson, however, did not become a Separatist 
without an inner conflict. ,He had read some books 



104 The Builders of a Nation 

on the justification of Separation, which "were as 
sweet as honey unto his mouth," but, he tells us, 
for a long time he was held back by an overvaluation 
of the holiness and learning of those who conformed 
"blushing in myself to have a thought of passing 
one hair breadth before them in this thing, behind 
whom I knew myself to come so many miles in all 
other things ; yea, and even of late times, when I 
had entered into a more serious consideration of 
these things, and, according to the measure of grace 
received, searched the Scriptures, whether they were 
so or no, and by searching found much light of 
truth; yet was the same so dimmed and overclouded 
with the contradictions of these men and others of 
the like note, that had not the truth been in my 
lieart as a burning fire shut up in my bones (Jer. 
20:9) I had never broken those bonds of flesh and 
blood, wherein I was so straitly tied, but had suf- 
fered the light of God to have been put out in mine 
o^vn untruthful heart by other men's darkness." 

To the arguments of a friend in the Anglican 
Church Robinson replied : "My forsaking the Church 
of England was no rupture (as you speak), but an 
enforced departure upon the most advised deliber- 
ations I could possibly take, either with the Lord 
by humbling myself before him, or with men, for 
whose advice I spared neither cost nor pains, but 
sought out in every place the most sincere and judi- 
cious in the land for resolution to the contrary, 



The Church at Scroohy 105 

as both God and men can witness with me, but with 
what effect the issue manifesteth." 

John Bastwick, who matriculated at Leyden Uni- 
versity in 1617, while Robinson was pastor there, 
said: "Yea, I can speak thus much in the presence 
of God, That Master Robinson, of Leyden, the Pas- 
tor of the Brownist Church there, told me, and oth- 
ers who are yet living to witness the truth of what 
I now say: 'That if he might in England have en- 
joyed but the liberty of his Ministry there, with an 
immunity but from the very Ceremonies; and that 
they had not forced him to a Subscription to them, 
and imposed upon him the observation of them: 
that he had never separated from it, and left that 
Church.' " 

So reluctant was Robinson to leave the Church of 
England that he seems to have made some efforts to 
lease a chapel or secure the mastership of a hos- 
pital, in which greater liberty might have been en- 
joyed. In "A Common Apology of the Church of 
England^' (London, 1610, Bishop Hall says: 
"Neither doubt we to say that the Mastership of 
the hospital at Norwich, or a lease from that City 
(sued for with repulse) might have procured that 
this Separation from the Communion, Government, 
and Worship of the Church of England, should not 
have been made by John Robinson." 

However desirous Robinson may have been to re- 
tain his connection with the Anglican Church, there 



106 The Builders of a Nation 

was no half-way house into which he might enter, 
and so he was forced by stress of circumstances to 
press on to Separatism. Leaving Norwich he united 
with the Separatist congregation which had been 
organized at Gainsborough, a few miles distant from 
the place of his birth. 

An influential member of this church, and a man 
whose name bulks large in the subsequent history 
of the Pilgrims was William Brewster to whose pre- 
vious life more than a passing reference must be 
given. 

Brewster was bom at Scrooby some time in 1566 
or 1567, for he deposed at Leyden, June 25, 1609, 
that he was forty-two years of age. He matricu- 
lated at Peterhouse College, Cambridge, December 3, 
1580, and spent some time there although he seems 
never to have graduated. After he left the univer- 
sity he became private secretary to William Davi- 
son, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth. Brad- 
ford informs us that "Davison found him so 
discreet and faithful as he trusted him above all 
other that were about him, and only employed him 
in all matters of greatest trust and secrecy. He 
esteemed him rather as a son than a servant, and 
for his wisdom and godliness (in private) he would 
converse with him more like a friend and familiar 
than a master. He attended his master when he 
was sent in ambassage by the Queen. into the Low 
Countries, in the Earl of Leicester's time, as for 



The Chiirch at Scroohy 107 

other weighty affairs of state, so to receive posses- 
sion of the cautionary towns, and in token and sign 
thereof the keys of Flushing being dehvered to him, 
in her majesty's name, he kept them some time, and 
committed them to this his servant, who kept them 
under his pillow, on which he slept the first night. 
And, at his return, the States honored him with a 
gold chain, and his master committed it to him, and 
commanded him to wear it when they arrived in 
England, as they rode through the countr}^, till 
they came to the Court." 

After the downfall of Davison, in 1587, for the 
part which he had played in the execution of Mary 
Queen of Scots, Brewster returned to Scrooby, 
where his father for several years had held the po- 
sition of Postmaster on the great North Road. The 
father dying, in 1590, through the influence of Davi- 
son, the son was given the appointment as his suc- 
cessor. This position was one of honor and influence, 
which, however, did not imply the task of keeping 
a post-office in the modern sense, nor the forwarding 
of private mail, but of government dispatches and 
occasional travellers. 

At the time when Brewster's father was Post- 
master every "Post" was required to "have in his 
stable, or in readiness, throughout the year, three 
good and sufficient post horses, with saddles and 
furniture fit and belonging: three good and strong 
bags, well lined with baize or cotton, to carry the 



108 The Builders of a Nation 

Packet in; and three horns, to blow by the way." 
Within "one quarter of an hour" after the receipt 
of a "packet" he was required "with all speed and 
diligence (to) carry the same, or cause it to be car- 
ried, to the next Post." From March 25 to Sept. 
29, the Post was to ride "Seven miles the hour And 
in the winter, which is the rest of the year. Five 
miles the hour, as the way shall fall out." 

At Scrooby Brewster lived in the great manor- 
house which belonged to the Archbishop of York. 
Here Margaret, daughter of Henry VII, tarried over 
night, in June, 1503, while on her way to Scotland to 
marry James IV. Here also Cardinal Wolsey spent 
some time in retirement after he had fallen into 
disfavor with the king. "Most commonly every 
Sunday," says Cavendish, "if the weather did serve 
he would travel unto some parish church thereabout, 
and there would say his divine sei'vice; and either 
hear or say mass himself, causing some one of his 
chaplains to preach unto the people." 

Edwin Sandys, who was Archbishop of York from 
1576 to 1588, leased the manor-house to his son. Sir 
Samuel Sandys, under whom Brewster occupied it. 
Of the latter's life at Scrooby Bradford sa^'s : "Af- 
terwards he went and lived in the country, in good 
esteem amongst his friends and the gentlemen of 
those parts, especially the godly and religious. He 
did much good in the country where he lived, in pro- 
moting and furthering religion, not only by prac- 



The Church at Scroohy 109 

tice and example, and. provoking and encouraging 
others, but by procuring of good preachers to the 
places thereabout, and drawing on of others to as- 
sist and help forward in such a work ; he himself 
most commonly deepest in the charge and sometimes 
above his ability. And in this state he continued 
many years, doing the best he could, and walking 
according to the light he saw, till the Lord revealed 
further unto him. And in the end, by the tyranny 
of the bishops against godly preachers and people, 
in silencing one and persecuting the other, he and 
many more of tliose times began to look further into 
things, and to see the unlawfulness of their callings, 
and tlie burden of many antichristian corruptions, 
which both he and they endeavored to cast off." 

One other member of the Gainsborough church 
should receive mention, viz. : William Bradford, who 
for many years served Plymouth Colony as gover- 
nor, and who wrote a graphic history entitled "0/ 
Plimoth Plantation,*' which is the most important 
of the original sources treating of the Pilgrims, and 
to which we shall have frequent occasion to refer 
in these pages. About 1728 the manuscript of this 
"History" was placed in the New England Library 
collected by Thomas Prince of Boston, and deposited 
in the tower of the Old South Church, where it re- 
mained until the Revolutionary War, when it disap- 
peared and for some seventy or eighty years its 
fate and whereabouts were unknown until finally it 



110 The Builders of a Nation 

was discovered in the library of the Bishop of Lon- 
don at Fulham Palace, and for the first time was 
printed in full. In 1897, through the efforts of Am- 
bassador Bayard, the precious document was 
transferred by the Bishop of London to the state 
authorities of Massachusetts and is now in the State 
House at Boston. 

Bradford was born at Austerfield, probably early 
in 1589 or late in 1588, for from the parish rec- 
ords it is learned that he was baptized on the 19th 
day of March, 1589. His parents seem to have 
been persons of no mean estate, but he was orphaned 
in early childhood and reared by two uncles. While 
yet a lad the Scriptures made a deep impression 
upon his mind and coming under the "illuminating 
ministry" of Richard Clyfton he felt it to be his 
duty to withdraw from the "parish Assemblies" and 
unite "with some Society of the Faithful that should 
keep close unto the written Word of God as the rule 
of their worship." 

Attempts were made by relatives and friends to 
dissuade him from such a course, but he was not to 
be moved, and his lofty moral purpose is revealed 
in his reply: "Were I like to endanger my life, or 
consume my estate, by any ungodly courses ; your 
counsels to me were very seasonable. But you know 
that I have been diligent and provident in my Call- 
ing: and not only desirous to augment what I have, 
but also to enjoy it in your company; to part from 



The Church at Scroohy 111 

which will be as great a cross as can befall me. 
Nevertheless, to keep a good conscience, and walk 
in such a Way as God has prescribed in his Word, 
is a thing which I must prefer before you all, and 
above life itself. Wherefore, since it is for a good 
Cause that I am like to suffer the disasters which 
you lay before me; you have no cause to be either 
angry with me or sorry for me. Yea, I am not only 
willing to part with everything that is dead to me 
in this world for this Cause: but I am also thankful 
that God hath given me a heart to do so ; and will 
accept me so to suffer for him." It was of such 
stuff as this that the future Governor of Plymouth 
was made, and fortunate it was that he should have 
had so firm a purpose in view of all the difficulties 
that he afterwards was to encounter and the hard- 
ships that were to be endured. 

In this narrative we have seen fit to consider only 
those members of the Gainsborough congregation 
who afterwards were connected with the Scrooby or- 
ganization. Some time in 1606, probably early in 
the year, the division was made into two separate 
congregations. In the autumn of that year the 
Gainsborough congregation, under the leadership of 
John Smyth, emigrated to Amsterdam. The rem- 
nant at Scrooby was left under the pastoral care of 
John Robinson and Richard Clj'ft'on. William 
Brewster, in fact if not in name, served the church 
as ruling elder. According to Bradford, Brewster 



112 The BuUdcrs of a Xation 

was not elected Elder until thev had settled in Lev- 
den, but before this "'had been an assistant unto him, 
(viz.: John Robinson, the pastor), in the place of 
an Elder." Brewster, in reality, was the moving 
spirit in the enterprise, for, says Bradford, "after 
they werc joined togetlier in communion, he was a 
special stay and help unto them. They ordinarily 
met at his house on tlie Lord's Day (which was a 
manor of the bishops), and with great love he enter- 
tained them when they came, making provision for 
them to his great charge." 

In this church, if we may judge from the sub- 
setjuent elaboration of Robinson's principles when 
he was at Leyden, the eldership was given a position 
of greater influence in controlling the affairs of the 
congregation than had been the case with the earlier 
English Separatists under the leadership of Robert 
Browne. In his ^*Jn,stipcation of Separation" Rob- 
inson says : "The Lord Jesus hath given to his church 
a presbytery, or college of elders or bishops — for 
the teaching and governing of the whole flock ac- 
cording to his will; and these the multitude, jointly 
and severally, is bound to obey, all and every one of 
them." This certainly looks like reposing great 
if not unlimited power in the eldership, but in his 
"A Just and Necessary Apology" he says that min- 
isters are not to bo obeyed as magistrates "for the 
authority of the commander, but for the reason of 
the commandment, which the ministers are also 



The Church at Scroohij 113 

bound in duty to manifest, and approve unto the 
consciences of them over whom they are set." 

The authority of the ehlersliip, moreover, was 
qualified by his insistence that the office "being pub- 
lic requires answerable and public administration." 
"The elders in ruling and governing the church must 
represent the people, and occupy their place. It 
should seem, then, that it appertains unto the peo- 
ple, unto the people primarily and originally under 
Christ, to rule and govern the church, that is them- 
selves." While permitting the elders to prepare tlie 
business of the church privately, he repudiated as 
dissonant with true faith and piety the idea that the 
"Elders in their consistory represent the church" 
and that "whatsoever they either decree, or do is 
agreeing to the word of God whether respecting 
faith or manners, that also tlie church decreeth and 
doth, though absent, though ignorant both what the 
thing is, which is done, and upon what ground it is 
done by the Elders." As thus qualified and inter- 
preted, the eldership possessed moral leadership only, 
rather than authority in shaping and controlling the 
aifairs of the church. In other respects Robinson^s 
views as to church organization and administration 
do not differ materially from the principles com- 
monly received by the Separatists of tliat age, and 
as these have received sufficient consideration in the 
preceding pages, further elucidation is unnecessary. 

Doubtless it was the persecutions which arose in 



114 The Builders of a Nation 

connection with the enforcement of Bancroft's can- 
ons that caused the Gainsborough church to emi- 
grate to Holland. From these same persecutions the 
church at Scrooby did not and could not escape. 
As Bradford writes : "They could not long continue 
in any peaceable condition but were hunted and 
persecuted on every side, so as their former afflic- 
tions were but as flea-bitings in comparison of these 
which now came upon them. For some were taken 
and clapped up in prison, others had. their houses 
beset and watched night and day, and hardly es- 
caped their hands ; and the most were fain to fly 
and leave their houses and habitations, and the 
means of their livelihood. Yet these and many other 
sharper things which afterward befell them, were no 
other than they looked for, and therefore were the 
better prepared to bear them by the assistance of 
God's grace and spirit. Yet seeing themselves thus 
molested and that there was no hope of their con- 
tinuance there, by a joint consent they resolved to 
go into the Low Countries, where they heard was 
freedom of Religion for all men ; as also how sundry 
from London and other parts of the Land, had been 
exiled and persecuted for the same cause, and were 
gone thither, and lived at Amsterdam, and in other 
places of the land. So after they had continued 
together about a year, and kept their meetings every 
Sabbath in one place or other, exercising the wor- 



The Church at Scroohy 115 

ship of God amongst themselves, notwithstanding all 
the diligence and malice of their adversaries, they 
seeing they could no longer continue in that condi- 
tion, they resolved to get into Holland as they 
could." 

The difficulties of such an undertaking were im- 
measurably great and might well have daunted less 
courageous souls. Bradford continues: "But to go 
into a country they knew not (but by hearsay), 
where they must learn a new language, and get their 
livings they knew not how, it being a dear place, and 
subject to the miseries of war, it was by many 
thought an adventure almost desperate, a case in- 
tolerable, and a misery worse than death. Espe- 
cially seeing they were not acquainted with trades 
nor traffic (by which that country doth subsist), 
but had only been used to a plain country life, and 
the innocent trade of husbandry. But these things 
did not dismay them (though they did sometimes 
trouble them) for their desires were set on the ways 
of God, and to enjoy his ordinances; but they rested 
on his providence, and knew whom they had be- 
lieved." 

With a sublime and unwavering faith in God these 
heroic souls resolved to forsake all of the associa- 
tions and traditions of the past, to sever those ties 
which bound them to the mother country, and to 
venture forth upon an enterprize so hazardous that 



116 The Builders of a Nation 

it held no promise of worldly advantage but only 
the possibilities of hardship and poverty, if not dis- 
aster, all that they might worship God according 
to the dictates of their own consciences and remain 
loyal to their highest convictions of right and duty. 



CHAPTEE V 

THE EMIGRATION TO HOLLAND 

Although "constrained to leave their native soil 
and country, their lands and livings, and all their 
friends and familiar acquaintance," the members of 
the Scrooby church found this no easy matter to 
carry through. They were obliged to face difficulties 
that seemed well-nigh insuperable. The Act of 1593 
provided that those convicted of non-conformity 
who did not conform and submit within three months 
must "abjure the realm, and refusing to do so, or 
returning to the realm, shall be deemed Felons" and 
suffer death "as in the case of Felony without bene- 
fit of Clergy." Under that act the members of the 
Separatist Church in London and others had left 
the country. This act also provided that it should 
continue no longer than the end of the next Session 
of Parliament which fell on Feb. 9, 1598. An earlier 
statute prohibited emigration without the King's 
license. This was the chief difficulty that confronted 
the members of the Scrooby church. They were 
being "harried out of the land" through the course 
pursued by the ecclesiastical authorities, who were 

117 



118 Tlie Builders of a Nation 

the agents of King James, and yet when they wished 
to they were not permitted to depart in peace. As 
Bradford pathetically puts it: "Though they could 
not stay; yet were they not suffered to go: but the 
ports and havens were shut against them. So as 
they were fain to seek secret means of conveyance; 
and to bribe and fee the mariners, and give extraor- 
dinary rates for their passages. And yet they were 
of ten time betrayed ; and both they and their goods 
intercepted and surprised, and thereby put to great 
trouble and charge." 

Bradford narrates two occasions when their at- 
tempts to leave the country were frustrated : "There 
was a large company of them purposed to get a pas- 
sage at Boston in Lincolnshire; and for that end, 
had hired a ship wholly to themselves, and made 
agreement with the Master to be ready at a certain 
day, and take them and their goods in, at a con- 
venient place: where they accordingly would all at- 
tend in readiness. So, after long waiting and large 
expenses, though he kept not day with them ; yet he 
came at length, and took them in, in the night. But 
when he had them, and their goods aboard; he be- 
trayed them: having beforehand complotted with the 
Searchers and other Officers so to do. Who took 
them, and put them into open boats ; and there rifled 
and ransacked them : searching them to their shirts 
for money; yea, even the women further than be- 
came modesty. And then carried them back into 



I 



The Emigration to Holla/nd 119 

the town and made them a spectacle and wonder to 
the multitude; which came flocking on all sides to 
behold them. Being thus first by the catchpole Offi- 
cers rifled and stripped of their money, books, and 
much other goods ; they were presented to the Magis- 
trates: and messengers sent to inform the Lords of 
the Council of them; and so they were committed 
to the ward. Indeed, the Magistrates used them 
courteously, and shewed them what favor they could ; 
but could not deliver them till order came from the 
Council table. But the issue was that, after a 
month's imprisonment, the greatest part were dis- 
missed ; and sent to the places from whence they 
came: but Seven of the principal were still kept in 
prison, and bound over to the Assizes." One of the 
seven was Brewster, who ''was chief of those that 
were taken at Boston, and suff'ered the greatest 
loss." 

There is no record of what occurred at the As- 
sizes, the records of the town of Boston being in- 
complete, since the pages for that year being at the 
beginning of a volume are missing. Whatever may 
have happened did not daunt the courage of these 
heroic souls, for Bradford, continuing his narrative, 
says : "The next Spring after, there was another 
attempt made by some of these, and others, to get 
over at another place. And it so fell out, that they 
light of a Dutchman at Hull, having a ship of his 
own, belonging to Zealand. They made an agree- 



120 The Builders of a Nation 

ment with him, and acquainted him with their con- 
dition : hoping to find more f aitlifulness in him, than 
in the former of their own nation. He bade them 
not to fear; for he would do well enough. He was, 
by appointment, to take them in between Grimsby 
and Hull, where was a large common a good way 
distant from any town. Now, against the prefixed 
time, the women and children, with the goods, were 
sent to the place in a small Bark; which they had 
hired for that end; and the men were to meet them 
by land. But it so fell out, that they were there a 
day before the ship came: and the sea being rough, 
and the women very sick ; prevailed with the seamen 
to put into a creek hard by; where they lay on 
ground at low water. The next morning, the ship 
came: but they were fast, and could not stir till 
about noon. In the meantime, the ship Master, per- 
ceiving how the matter was, sent his boat, to be 
getting the men aboard; whom he saw ready, walk- 
ing about the shore. But after the first boat full 
was got aboard, and she was ready to go for more; 
the Master espied a great company, both horse and 
foot, with bills and guns, and other weapons: for 
the country was raised to take them. The Dutch- 
man seeing that, swore his country's oath, Sacra- 
mente ! and, having the wind fair, weighed his 
anchor, hoisted his sails, and away! But the poor 
men, which were got aboard, were in great distress 
for their wives and children ; which they saw thus 



The Emigration to Hollajid 121 

to be taken, and were left destitute of their helps: 
and themselves also, not having a cloth to shift them 
with, more than they had on their backs ; and some, 
scarce a penny about them; all they had being 
aboard the Bai^k. It drew tears from their eyes ; and 
anything they had, they would have given to have 
been ashore again: but all in vain. There was no 
remedy. They must thus sadly part." 

The men who remained on the beach, excepting the 
few who were needed to help the women and chil- 
dren, when they realized the danger of arrest, pru- 
dently made their escape. "But pitiful it was," con- 
tinues Bradford, "to see the heavy case of these 
poor women in this distress. What weeping and 
crying on every side! Some for their husbands that 
were carried away in the ship, as is before related. 
Others not knowing what should become of them and 
their little ones. Others again melted in tears, see- 
ing their poor little ones hanging about them ; crying 
for fear, and quaking with cold. Being thus appre- 
hended, they were hurried from one place to another ; 
and from one Justice to another; till, in the end, 
they knew not what to do with them. For to im- 
prison so many women and innocent children, for 
no other cause, many of them, but that they must go 
with their husbands, seemed to be so unreasonable: 
and all would cry out of them. And to send them 
home again was as difficult; for they alleged, as the 
truth was, they had no homes to go to: for they 



122 The Builders of a Nation 

had either sold, or otherwise disposed of, their houses 
and livings. To be short, after they had been thus 
turmoiled a good while; and conveyed from one 
Constable to another: they were glad to be rid of 
them in the end upon any terms ; for all were wearied 
and tired with them. Though, in the mean time, 
they, poor souls ! endured misery enough : and thus, 
in the end, necessity forced a way for them." 

Those who sailed away, probably including Brad- 
ford, "endured a fearful storm at sea, being four- 
teen days or more before they arrived at their port ; 
in seven whereof, they neither saw sun, moon, nor 
stars: and were driven near the coast of Norway. 
The mariners themselves often despairing of life: 
and once, with shrieks and cries, gave over all; as 
if the ship had been foundered in the sea, and they 
sinking without recovery. But when man's hope 
and help wholly failed ; the Lord's power and mercy 
appeared in their recovery: for the ship rose again, 
and gave the mariners courage again to manage her. 
And if modesty would suffer me, I might declare with 
what fervent prayers, they cried unto the LORD in 
this great distress. Especially some of them, even 
without any great distraction, when the water ran 
into their mouths and ears ; and the mariners cried 
out, 'We sink ! We sink !' : they cried, if not with 
miraculous, yet with a great height, or degree, of 
divine faith, 'Yet LORD, thou canst save! Yet 
LORD, thou canst save!' with other such expres- 



The Emigration to Holland 123 

sions as I will forbear. Upon which, the ship did 
not only recover; but shortly after, the violence of 
the storm began to abate; and the Lord filled their 
afflicted minds with such comforts as every one can 
understand. And in the end, brought them to their 
desired haven : where the people came flocking ad- 
miring their deliverance; the storm having been so 
long and sore. In which, much hurt had been done ; 
as the Master's friends related unto him, in their 
congratulations." 

Other trials and tribulations may have befallen 
those who were left behind, but as Bradford says : 
"In the end, notwithstanding all these storms of op- 
position, they all gat over at length. Some at one 
time, and some at another ; and some in one place 
and some in another: and met together again, ac- 
cording to their desires, with no small rejoicing." 
Among the last to get over were their leaders, Rob- 
inson, Clyfton, and Brewster, who "stayed to help 
the weakest over before them." 

Even from the evils which they had suffered good 
resulted, of which Bradford testifies : "Yet I may 
not omit the fruit that came thereby. For by these 
so public troubles, in so many eminent places, their 
cause became famous, and caused many to look into 
the same: and their godly character and Christian 
behavior was such, as left a deep impression in the 
minds of many. And though some few shrank at 
these first conflicts and sharp beginnings, as it was 



124i The Builders of a Nation 

no marvel; jet many more came on with fresh cour- 
age, and greatly animated others." 

Amsterdam had been selected as their haven of 
refuge probably for two reasons. First, because 
of the possibilities of securing employment, the city 
being a commercial and manufacturing center of no 
small importance. Here they would have greater 
opportunities for finding some means of livelihood 
such as a smaller or less important city could not 
afford. 

Second, because of the imm\mity from persecution 
wliicli it offered. Throughout the long and desper- 
ate struggle with Spain, which resulted in the estab- 
lishment of the Dutch Republic, Amsterdam had 
stood not only for Protestantism but for freedom 
of thought and speech. On July 5, 1581, William 
the Silent had been asked by the nobility and cities 
of Holland and Zealand to become their sovereign 
and chief, directing him "to maintain the exercise 
only of the Reformed Evangelical religion, without, 
however, permitting that inquiries should be made 
into any man's belief or conscience, or that any in- 
jury or hindrance should be offered to any man on 
account of liis religion." 

Amsterdam accordingly became noted if not no- 
torious for its tolerance of religious opinions. It 
was satirically declared: "They countenance only 
Calvinism, but for Trade's sake they tolerate all 
others, except Papists ; which is the reason why the 



TJie Emigration to Holland 125 

treasure and stock of most Nations is transported 
thither, where there is full Liberty of Conscience: 
you may be what Devil you will there, so you be 
but peaceable: for Amsterdam is an 'University of 
all Religions, which grow here confusedly (like stocks 
in a Nursery) without either order or Pruning. If 
you be unsettled in your Religion, j^ou may here try 
all, and take at last what you like best ; if you fancy 
none, you have a Pattern to follow of two that would 
be a Church to themselves : It's the Fair of all the 
Sects, where all the Peddlers of Religion have leave 
to vend their Toys, their Ribbands and Fanatic Rat- 
tles: their Republic is more to them than Heaven; 
and God may be more safely offended there than the 
States-General.* " 

Three English Separatist congregations had al- 
ready immigrated to the city. First, the "Poor 
English Congregation in Amsterdam" of which little 
is known, the probability being that it had passed 
out of existence before the arrival of the exiles from 
Scrooby, although some remnants may still have 
been left in the city. 

Second, the "Ancient Exiled English Church'* 
from London or Southwark, the church to which the 
martyrs Barrowe, Greenwood, and Penry had be- 
longed. Into this church the remnants of Richard 
Fitz' church had doubtless been gathered. In his 
"Cotmterpoi/sen" (1608) Henry Ainsworth states 



186 The Builders of a Nation 

that John Bolton was an elder "of that separated 
church whereof Mr. Fitz was pastor m the beginning ■ 
of Queen Elizabeth's reign. This is testified to me 
bj one yet living among us who was then a member 
of that church." 

Third, the Gainsborough church, John Smyth, 
pastor, with which the Scrooby congregation had 
formerly been connected. On their arrival in Ams- 
terdam tlie members of this church seem to have 
joined the '"Ancient Church" from which they after- 
wards withdrew. 

The most important of these churches was the 
"Ancient Church'* of which Francis Johnson was 
pastor; Henry Ainsworth, teacher; Daniel Studley, 
George Knyveton, and M. Slade, elders ; and Chris- 
topher Bowman, deacon. Ainsworth was bom at 
Swanton-Morley, near Norv^ich, in 1569 or 1570. 
He spent three years or more at Cambridge, al- 
though he never graduated. Aftcr^vards he went to 
Ireland, and then in 1593 to Amsterdam, where he 
obtained employment, probably as a book-seller's 
porter. In 1596 he was chosen teacher in the 
"Ancient Church" which had immigrated to the city. 
He was one of the greatest Hebraists of his day, his 
Annotations of the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and 
other portions of the Scriptures, long being held in 
high esteem for their insight into the true meaning 
of Holy Writ in contrast with the allegorical method 



The Emigration to Holland 127 

of interpretation which prevailed at that time. He 
was the author of no fewer than twenty-eight dif- 
ferent publications. 

On their arrival in Amsterdam the members of 
the Scrooby congregation seem at first to have affili- 
ated with the "Ancient Church," although it is 
probable that they still maintained some sort of a 
separate organization of their own. Of the "Ancient 
Church" at that time Bradford gives the following 
description : "Truly there were in them many worthy 
men ; and if you had seen them in their beauty and 
order as we have done, you would have been much 
affected therewith, we dare say. At Amsterdam, be- 
fore their division and breach, they were about three 
hundred communicants. And they had for their 
Pastor and Teacher, those two eminent men before 
I named (Francis Johnson and Henry Ainsworth) ; 
and in our time four grave men for Ruling Elders; 
* and three able and godly men for Deacons : one 
I ancient Widow for a Deaconess ; who did them serv- 
I ice many years, though she was sixty years of age 
' when she was chosen. She had honored her place, 
I and was an ornament to the Congregation. She 
'usually sat in a convenient place in the Congrega- 
1 tion, with a little birchen rod in her hand ; and kept 
little children in great awe, from disturbing the 
Congregation. She did frequently visit the sick and 
weak, especially women ; and, as there was need, 
called out Maids and young Women to watch, and 



128 The Builders of a Nation 

do them other helps, as their necessity did require: 
and, if they were poor, she would gather relief for 
them, of those that were able ; or acquaint the 
Deacons. And she was obeyed as a Mother in Israel, 
and an Officer of Christ." 

Notwithstanding this glowing picture, the Separa- 
tists at Amsterdam were sorely troubled with dissen- 
sions which threatened to grow worse with the 
passage of time. An opponent wrote with bitter 
satire: "There were more Disputes, Contests and 
Quarrels, amongst the few Brownists, and other In- 
dependent Sectaries, which resorted thither the latter 
end of Queen Elizabeth's, King James the First's 
time, and so on, than among the whole Dutch Nation 
ever since they Reformed : 'Tis unaccountable what 
impertinent Controversies arose between them, even 
to the Color of Aaron's Ephod, whether it were Blue, 
or a Sea-green, which made an irreconcilable differ- 
ence between their Pastors, and consequently the 
Flocks divided." 

This, of course, was a gross exaggeration, but the 
melancholy fact must be recorded that the Separa- 
tists of Amsterdam were disturbed by serious 
quarrels over matters which today seem trivial and 
unimportant. It was characteristic of the early 
Separatists to keep a close watch upon the conduct 
of their members and hold them to a strict account 
for any and all breaches of discipline. Francis 
Johnson, the pastor of the "Ancient Church," before 



The Emigration to Holland 129 

leaving London had married a wealthy widow. After 
this marriage she continued to wear the expensive 
garments to which she had before been accustomed, 
to the no small scandal of the members of her hus- 
band's congregation. After the custom of the fash- 
ionable women of her time she wore whalebone in the 
sleeves and bodice of her gown, and shoes with high 
1 cork heels. Some of the members of the congrega- 
tion, including the father and brother of the pastor, 
insisted that she should dress more plainly. She and 
her husband were willing to make some concessions, 
so far at least as altering the gown without spoiling 
I it completely. This, however, was not satisfactory 
I to the opposing parties, and the quarrel became so 
' violent that Johnson's father and brother were 

• expelled from the church. It would have been ludi- 
t crous, were it not so tragic, that men and women, 
j who had made it a matter of conscience to bid adieu 

* to their native land and emigrate to a foreign shore, 
I should become involved in bitter disputes about a 

woman's stays and heels ! 

This quarrel had ceased at the time when the 
Scrooby congregation reached the city, but unpleas- 
ant memories lingered, and the causes for fresh dis- 
sension were at work, Johnson and all of the elders 
in his church ascribed practically unlimited author- 
ity to the eldership. The function of the member- 
ship of the church was limited to the election of the 
elders, the latter becoming in fact the rulers of the 



130 The Builders of a Nation 

church, so that "Tell it to the Church" meant "Tell 
it to the elders." The elders could excommunicate 
church members, without the consent of the church, 
but if the elders were guilty of heresy or misconduct, 
the members of the church had no right to depose or 
excommunicate them. Ainsworth and a minority of 
the church opposed this idea, which eventually led 
to a serious rupture in the church. 

In the Gainsborough congregation elements of 
strife were working. John Smyth, their pastor, be- 
came convinced that there were grave errors in the 
views of church polity which he had formerly held, 
declaring that the "triformed presbytery" composed 
of pastors, teachers, and elders, is "of man's de- 
vice," "that all the Elders of the Church are Pastors, 
and that lay Elders (so called) are Anti-christian." 
He also announced that the reading of the scrip- 
tures in worship was "the invention of the man of 
sin" and that it was unlawful in preaching or sing- 
ing "to have the book as a help before the eye." 
The preacher must have no texts of scripture before 
him, not even the Hebrew or the Greek, but must 
depend solely upon the inspiration and guidance of 
the Holy Spirit for everything which he uttered. 
Later he espoused the doctrine of believer's baptism, 
renouncing the baptism which he and his members 
had formerly received, rebaptizing himself and them, 
for which he was nicknamed the Se-baptist or self- 
baptizer. 



The Emigration to Holland 131 

While all of these dissensions did not take place 
during the brief year that the Scrooby exiles spent 
at Amsterdam, the seeds of dissension were there 
and could not but be very distressing to Robinson, 
Brewster, and their followers. Bradford says : "And 
when they had lived at Amsterdam about a year 
Master Robinson their Pastor and some others of 
best discerning, seeing how Master John Smyth and 
his Company were already fallen into contention with 
the Church that was there before them; and no 
means they could use, would do any good to cure 
the same : and also that the flames of contention were 
like to break out in the Ancient Church itself, as 
afterwards lamentably came to pass. Which things 
they prudently forseeing, thought it was best to 
remove, before they were any way engaged with the 
same : though they well knew it would be much to the 
prejudice of their outward estates ; both at present, 
and in likelihood in the future — as indeed it proved 
to be." 

For these reasons they made application to the 
authorities of the City of Leyden for permission to 
settle there. This application is recorded in the 
Court Register of the City and was printed for the 
first time in 1848 by Professor Kist. It reads as 
follows: "To the Honorable the Burgomasters and 
Court of the city of Leyden: With due submission 
and respect, Jan Boharthse, minister of the Divine 
Word, and some of the members of the Christian 



132 The Builders of a Nation 

Reformed Religion, bom in the kingdom of Great 
Britain, to the number of one hundred persons, or 
thereabouts, men and women, represent that they are 
desirous of coming to live in this city, by the first 
of May next, and to have the freedom thereof in 
carrying on their trades, without being a burden in 
the least to any one. They therefore address them- 
selves to your Honors, humbly praying that your 
Honors will be pleased to grant them free consent 
to betake themselves as aforesaid." 

Neither date nor signature is affixed to the appK- 
cation as recorded, but the reply of the authorities 
is dated and reads thus: "The Court, in making a 
disposition of this present memorial, declare that 
they refuse no honest persons free ingress to come 
and have their residence in this city, provided that 
such persons behave themselves, and submit to the 
laws and ordinances ; and therefore the coming of 
the memorialists will be agreeable and welcome. 

"Thus done in their session at the Council House, 
12 February, 1609. 

"Signed, I. Van Hout." 

Although the authorities thus gave their consent, 
the matter was not yet settled, for King James the 
First, through his ambassador. Sir Ralph Winwood, 
denounced Robinson's congregation to the Council 
of Holland, as ''ill-conditioned Brownists, not sub- 
missive to King and Hierarchy — ^banished men, who 
deserve no sympathy." 



The Emigration to Holland 133 

To this accusation the magistrates replied in a 
spirit of toleration worthy of the best Dutch tra- 
ditions : 

"It is, however, true that in February last a pe- 
tition was presented to us in the name of Jan Ro- 
barts, Minister of the Gospel, together with some 
people of the Reformed Christian Faith, bom in 
England, requesting that, as they intended taking 
up their abode in Leyden, they might be granted 
free permission to do so. We answered officially, 
stating that we did not refuse free entrance to honest 
people that behaved honestly and submitted to the 
Statutes and Ordinances of the city ; and that there- 
fore the entrance of the Petitioners would be welcome 
and agreeable to us. 

"This may be verified by the Petition and by our 
Reply of which we send your Excellency a copy. 

"We may add that no further steps have been 
taken by us in this matter. We were not then aware, 
nor indeed are we yet aware, that the Petitioners 
have been banished from England, or that they be- 
long to the sect of Brownists. 

"We, therefore, beg your Excellency to forward 
this information with the accompanying document 
to the Lord Advocate, so that no misunderstanding 
may arise between ourselves and Their Excellencies 
the Ambassadors, or His Majesty liimself ; and that 
we may be held excused by their Excellencies and, 
consequently, by His Majesty." 



134 The Builders of a Nation 

When Robinson and the members of his congre- 
gation bade adieu to Amsterdam and took up their 
abode in Leyden, they left behind, possibly with 
some others, their teacher, Richard Clyfton, who at 
his time of life was unwilling to make another move, 
and who, in the meanwhile, had embraced Johnson's 
views as to the power of the elders over the congre- 
gation. 



CHAPTEE VI 



LIFE AT LEYDEN 



Leyden, to which the members of the Scrooby 
church now came, Hes fifteen miles from the sea- 
coast, the intervening country for the most part 
having been reclaimed from the waters by an intri- 
cate network of dykes. This city is memorable for 
the heroic defence made by its inhabitants, when 
besieged by the Spaniards from May 26 to October 
3, 1574. The citizens were reduced to the very 
verge of starvation. Within a month from the com- 
mencement of the siege the bread supply was ex- 
hausted and for a time the people subsisted upon 
malt cakes, but even these soon gave out and condi- 
tions became most desperate. The leaves were 
stripped from the trees that grew in the city and 
fed to the miserable inhabitants, while the skins of 
animals were boiled and eaten, not even a drop of 
blood being wasted. Dogs and cats, rats and mice 
were esteemed rare luxuries. The very dung-hills 
were searched by women and children for morsels 
of food. Multitudes perished but still the city would 
not yield. Finally the dykes were cut to permit 

135 



136 The Builders of a Nation 

Admiral Boisot's fleet to come to the relief of the 
beleaguered people. A violent equinoctial storm 
from the northwest on the night of October 1 and 2 
sent the waters over the ruined dykes, flooding the 
country. A large section of the city wall fell on 
the night of October 2. The Spaniards, panic- 
stricken by the crash, fled in the darkness. The next 
morning the fleet drew near without meeting resist- 
ance, bringing food and relief to the starving inhabi- 
tants. That day rescued and rescuer repaired to St. 
Peter^s, the largest cluirch in the city, to offer up 
thanks to Almighty God for this deliverance. Since 
tlien October 3 has been observed annually by the 
people of Leyden as a festival and holiday. 

Three hundred years ago Leyden had a popula- 
tion of 100,000 inhabitants, nearly double its pres- 
ent population, and was already becoming famous 
on account of its university which was chartered by 
William of Orange, February 9, 1575, as one of the 
rewards for the heroic defence of the citizens of Ley- 
den during the summer previous. The institution 
was first opened in the ancient cloister of St. Barbe 
and then removed to tlie chapel of the Jacobins where 
it still remains. Although tlie university liad been in 
existence scarcely more than a third of a century 
at the time wlien John Robinson and his congrega- 
tion took up their abode in the city it had already 
begun to attract students from all parts of Europe, 
dra^^^^ tliither bv the fame of its teachers, Justus 



Life at Leyden 137 

Lipsius, who occupied the chair of history ; Francis 
Junius, who had been professor of theology; the 
younger Scaliger, Daniel Heinsius, Gomar, Arminius 
and others. 

Then, as now, Leyden was reputed to be a city of 
great beauty. The chief concern of the newcomers, 
however, was not the history of the city, its intel- 
lectual attractions, its canals and bridges, its well- 
paved streets shaded by linden-trees, the magnifi- 
cence of its buildings, nor its other beauties natural 
and acquired, but the means of gaining a livelihood. 
Says Bradford: "Wanting that traffic by sea which 
Amsterdam enjoys, it was not so beneficial for their 
outward means of living and estates. But being now 
here pitched, they fell to such trades and employ- 
ments as they best could; valuing peace and their 
spiritual comfort above any other riches whatso- 
ever : and, at length, they came to raise a competent 
and comfortable living; but with hard and continual 
labor." 

Various occupations were followed by these new- 
comers. Some became merchants, tobacco-pipe 
makers, masons, watch-makers, silversmiths, print- 
ers, carpenters, etc., but most of them engaged in the 
textile industries, as wool-combers, carders, bom- 
bazine weavers, baize weavers, linen weavers, etc. 

William Bradford became a fustian-worker, and 
on November 9, 1613, at tlie age of twenty-three was 
married at Amsterdam to Dorothy May, aged six- 



138 The Builders of a Nation 

teen, of Wisebeach. The granddaughter of Jolm 
May, Bisliop of Carlisle, who died in 1598, she 
probably was a member of the "Ancient Church" at 
Amsterdam, her sister Jacomyne May having mar- 
ried Jean de I'Ecluse, a book printer from Rouen, 
who became an elder in the "Ancient Church" after 
he had left the French Church for "known evils exist- 
ing among them." 

William Brewster for a time earned his living by 
giving lessons in English of which Bradford writes : 
"After he came into Holland, he suffered much hard- 
ship ; after he had spent the most of his means, hav- 
ing a great charge and many cliildren: and, in 
regard of his former breeding and course of life, 
not so fit for many employments as others were; 
especially such as were toilsome and laborious. But 
yet he ever bore his condition with much cheerful- 
ness and contentation. Towards the latter part of 
those twelve years spent in Holland, his outward 
condition was mended, and he lived well and plenti- 
fully. For he fell into a way, by reason he had the 
Latin tongue, to teach many students who had a 
desire to learn the English tongue, to teach them 
English: and by his method they quickly attained it 
with great facility; for he drew Rules to leam it 
by, after the Latin manner. And many Gentlemen, 
both Danes and Germans, resorted to him, as they 
liad time from other studies : some of tlicm being 
Great Men's sons. He had also means to set up 



Life at Ley den 139 

printing, by the help of some friends; and so had 
employment enough; and by reason of many books 
which would not be allowed to be prmted in Eng- 
land, they might liave more than they could do." 

In this latter entei-prise he was associated with 
Thomas Brewer who joined the congregation after 
it had settled in Lcyden and matriculated at the 
university. Being a man of means, Brewer probably 
furnished the greater part of the money to purchase 
type which Brewster, having no press of his own, 
sent out, after it had been set up, to some Dutch 
printer to run off* the sheets. Several books were 
published in this way, but finally with the issuance 
of David Calderwood's "Perth Asseiribly" and "A 
Brief Account of Discipline in the Scotch Church,^' 
books written in defence of Presbyterianism, which 
King James was attempting to overthrow in Scot- 
land in favor of Episcopacy, the luckless publishers, 
although their names did not appear upon the title 
pages, brought down upon themselves the wrath of 
the English government, instructions being sent to 
Sir Dudley Carleton, the English ambassador at The 
Hague, to take action in the matter. Under date of 
July 22, 1619, he wrote: "I believe I have discov- 
ered the printer of De Regimine Ecclesiae Scoti- 
canae, whicli His Majesty was informed to be done 
in Middleburgh, and that is one William Brewster, 
a Brownist, who hath boon for some years an in- 
habitant and printer at T.eydon, but is now witliin 



140 The Builders of a Nation 

this three weeks removed from thence and gone back 
to dwell in London, where he may be found out and 
examined not only of this book but likewise of the 
Perth Assembly, of which, if he was not the printer 
himself, he assuredly knows both printer and author; 
for, as I am informed, he hath had, whilst he re- 
mained here, his hand in all such books as have been 
sent over into Enghmd and Scotland, as, particu- 
larly, a book in folio, entitled A Confutation of the 
Rhemish Translation, anno 1618." 

A month later (August 20) Carleton reported: "I 
have made good inquiry after William Brewster at 
Leyden, and well assured that he is not returned 
thither, neither is it likely he will having removed 
from thence his family and his goods." 

Soon after, Carleton sent word that Brewster had 
been taken, but this was a mistake and in September 
he writes : "In my last I advertised j'our honor that 
Brewster was taken at Leaden, which proved an 
error, in that the schout (bailiff) who was employed 
by the magistrates for his apprehension being a 
dull, dininken fellow, took one man for another. But 
Brewer, who set him on work, and being a man of 
means, bare the charge of his printing, is fast in 
the university's prison ; and his printing letters, 
which were found in his house, in a garret where 
he had hid tliem, and his books and papers, are all 
seized and sealed up. I expect to-morrow to receive 
his voluntary confession of such books as he hath 



Life at Ley den 141 

caused to be printed by Brewster for this year and 
a half or two years past ; and then I intend to send 
some one expressly to visit his books and papers, 
and to examine liim particularly touching Perth 
Assembly, the discourse De Regimine, and other 
Puritan pamphlets which I have newly recovered." 
The Leyden church offered bail for Brewer's re- 
lease and insisted that in the matter of a trial he 
should claim the privileges to which he was entitled 
as a member of the university. The Separatists also 
stirred up the students to claim these privileges on 
behalf of their fellow. Finally Brewer consented to 
go to London but with a pledge from the government 
that he should be returned in safety. He set out, 
not as a prisoner, but accompanied by officers of 
the university from Leyden to Rotterdam, and 
thence to England in company with Sir William 
Zouche who was travelling thither. They were de- 
tained at Flushing by contrary winds and Carleton 
wrote: "I hope it (the fleet) will carry over Sir 
William Zouche and Master Brewer to your honor ; 
who have lain long together at Flushing: and his 
fellow Brownists at Leyden are somewhat scandal- 
ized because they hear Sir William hath taught him 
to drink healths." After a time Brewer was re- 
leased, and remained in Leyden until after the sail- 
ing of the Mayflower, but later returned to England, 
and for promoting Separatist principles suffered a 
long imprisonment, being confined by the bishops 



142 The Builders of a Nation 

from 1626 to 1640 in King's Bench Prison from 
which he was finally released by a petition to the 
House of Lords, but lived only a month after he was 
set at liberty. Through the connivance of the Ley- 
den Church, Brewster, though diligently sought by 
the English authorities, was never apprehended, and 
after a time the matter seems to have been dropped. 

During these years at Leyden John Robinson not 
only busied himself with the duties of his pastorate 
but wrote a number of treatises, one of which, viz. : 
"The Answer to a Censorious Epistle^' was probably 
written at Amsterdam, but the rest appeared while 
he was at Leyden: "A Justification of Separation 
from the Church of England" (1610), "Of Religious 
Communion, Public amd Private** (1614), "A Man/w- 
mission to a Manuduction** (1615), "The People's 
Plea for the Exercise of Prophecy" (1618), "Just 
amd Necessary Apology of Certain Christians" 
(1624), "Observations Divine and Moral" (1625), 
"A Treatise of the Lawfulness of Hearing of the 
Ministers in the Church of England" (published 
posthumously 1634), etc. 

These works for the most part were controversial 
and written in answer to criticisms of and attacks 
upon the principles of Separatism as they had been 
worked out in the congregation at Leyden. His 
"Observations Moral and, Divine" were an exception 
as these were essays upon a wide range of subjects, 
covering such topics as "Man's Knowledge of God," 



Life at Ley den 143 

"Of Religion, and Differences and Disputations 
Thereabout," "Of the Use and Abuse of Tilings," 
"Of God's Love," "Of God's Promises," "Of Created 
Goodness," "Of Equability and Perseverance in Well- 
doing," "Of Heresy and Schism," "Of Truth and 
Falsehood," "Of Knowledge and Ignorance," "Of 
Society and Friendship," "Of Health and Physic," 
etc., etc. These Essays reveal the wide range of 
Robinson's knowledge and reading, for in them he 
not only quotes from contemporary writers, but the 
early church fathers such as Ignatius, TertuUian, 
Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine, Anselm, Lactantius, 
Gregory Nazianzen, Eusebius, Jerome, Basil, etc., 
and such classical writers as Thales, Plato, Aris- 
totle, Herodotus, Plutarch, Terrence, Cicero, Sue- 
tonius, Pliny, Seneca, Epictetus, etc. 

After he had been in Leyden some few years, Rob- 
inson became a member of the university, matricu- 
lating September 5, 1615. Other members of the 
Separatist community did the same: Thomas Brewer, 
to whom reference has already been made, February 
17, 1615; Robert Brewster, May 22, 1619, and John 
Greenwood in 1625. Membership in the university 
carried with it certain privileges, including immun- 
ity from the liability to which ordinary citizens were 
subject of acting on patrol in time of war, of hav- 
ing soldiers billeted upon them in case of siege, of 
the payment of contributions for public works and 
fortifications, and of the liability to arrest by others 



144 The Builders of a Nation 

than officers of tlie university ; together with the 
privilege of purchasing a certam quantity of wine 
or beer without the payment of a tax. 

It was probably after Robinson had become a 
member of the university' that the interesting episode 
occurred in connection with the Anninian contro- 
versy, of which Bradford wrote: "In these Times 
also were the great troubles raised by the Arminians ; 
who as they greatly molested the whole State, so 
this city in particular, in which was the chief Uni- 
versity : so as there were daily and hot disputes in 
the Schools thereabout. And as the students and 
other learned were divided in their opinions herein ; 
so were the two Professors or Divinitj'^ Readers them- 
selves: the one daily teaching for it, the other 
against it ; wliich grew to that pass, that few of the 
disciples of the one, would hear the other teach. 
But Master Robinson, though he taught thrice a 
week himself, and writ sundry books, besides his 
manifold pains othenvise ; yet he went constantly to 
hear their Readings, and heard the one as well as 
the other: by which means, he was so well grounded 
in the controversy, and saw the force of all their 
arguments, and knew the shifts of the adversary. 
And being himself very able, none was fitter to buckle 
with them than himself ; as appeared by sundry dis- 
putes : so as he began to be terrible to the Arminians. 
Wliich made Episcopius, the Arminian Professor, to 
put forth his best strength, and set forth sundry 



Life at Ley den 146 

Theses ; which, by public dispute, he would defend 
against all men. Now Polyander, the other Profes- 
sor, and the chief Preachers of the city, desired Mas- 
ter Robinson to dispute against him: but he was 
loath, being a stranger. Yet the other did impor- 
tune him, and told him. That such was the abihty 
and nimbleness of the adversary, that the truth 
Avould suffer, if he did not help them. So as he con- 
descended, and prepared himself against the time. 
And when the day came; the Lord did so help him 
to defend the truth, and foil this adversary, as he 
put liim to an apparent non plus, in this great and 
public audience. And it caused many to praise God, 
that the truth had so famous victory ; so it procured 
him much honor and respect from those learned men, 
and others Avhich loved the truth." 

Although busied in these ways Robinson did not 
neglect the duties of his pastorate. In fact his 
relations with his congregation in this respect bor- 
dered closely upon the ideal, of which Bradford gives 
the following testimonial : "Such was the mutual love 
and reciprocal respect that this worthy man had to 
his flock ; and his flock to him : that it might be said 
of them, as it once was, of that famous Emperor 
Marcus Aurelius and the people of Rome, That it 
was hard to judge whether he delighted more in hav- 
ing such a people, or they in having such a Pastor. 
Golden Booh, etc. His love was great towards them ; 
and his care was always lent for their best good, 



146 The Builders of a Nation 

both for soul and body. For besides his singular 
abilities in divine things, wherein he excelled; he was 
also very able to give directions in civil affairs, and 
to forsee dangers and inconveniences: by which 
means he was very helpful to their outward estates ; 
and so was, every way, as a common father unto 
them. — They in like manner, had ever a reverent 
regard unto him and had him in precious estima- 
tion as his worth and wisdom did deserve. And 
though they esteemed him higlily whilst he lived and 
labored amongst them: yet much more after his 
death, when they came to feel the want of his help ; 
and saw, by woeful experience, what a treasure they 
had lost, to the grief of their hearts and wounding 
of their souls. Yea, such a loss, as they saw could 
not be repaired. For it was as hard for them to 
find such another Leader and Feeder in all respects, 
as for the Taboritcs to find another Ziska : and, 
although they did not call themselves Orphans, as 
the others did, after his death ; yet they had cause, 
as such, to lament, in another regard, their present 
condition and after usage." 

During these years at Leyden, Robinson's congre- 
gation in all probability worshipped in a private 
house. They never received any official recognition 
as a church by the Dutch authorities. Before com- 
ing to the city they had asked permission to immi- 
grate thither but there is no record of any petition 
for a place of worship or anything to indicate that 



Life at Ley den 147 

cin V public building was ever granted b}' the authori- 
ties for use as a church as was the case with the Eng- 
lish Presbyterian congregation which was estab- 
lished at Leyden about the time that the Separatists 
arrived in the city, and of which Robert Durie was 
pastor until his deatli in 1616. It was customary, 
however, for the Dutch government to restrict the 
worship of new and unusual sects to private houses 
which were often fitted up with rooms for worship as 
spacious as any church. It is not known where Rob- 
inson's congregation worshipped the first year or 
two that they were in the city, but in the public 
Register of the city of Leyden there is the record of 
a conveyance or deed, under date of May 15, 1611, 
the first paragraph of which reads as follows : "We, 
Pieter Arentszoon Deyman and Amelis van Hoge- 
veen, Schepens (Magistrates) in Leyden, make 
known that before us came Johan de Lalaing, declar- 
ing, for himself and his heirs, that he has sold, and 
by these presents does sell, to Jan Robinszoon, Min- 
ister of God's Word of the English Congregation in 
this city, Willem Jepson, Henry Wood, and Ray- 
nulph Tickens, who has married Jane White — 
jointly and each for himself an equal fourth part — 
a house and ground, with a garden situated on the 
west side thereof, standing and being in this city on 
the south side of the Pieter*s Kerckhoff near the 
Belfry ; formerly called the Groene Port." For this 
property the sum of eight thousand guilders, equiva- 



148 The Builders of a Nation 

lent in present values to about sixteen thousand dol- 
lars, was to be paid, "two thousand guilders being 
paid down; and five hundred guilders to be paid in 
May 1612, and annually thereafter, until all be 
paid." The joint ownersliip of the property to- 
gether with the additional fact that in the spacious 
garden connected with it William Jepson built 
twenty-one cottages, probably as residences for some 
of the members of the congregation, make it reason- 
ably certain that in this building the Separatists 
worshipped during the remainder of their stay in 
Leyden. This building was torn down in 1681-83, 
and the building which now stands upon the same 
site was erected. In recent years a marble slab has 
been placed upon it ^vdth the inscription : "On this 
spot lived, taught, and died, John Robinson, 1611- 
1625." 

It would be interesting if we could know what 
order of worship was followed in the church at Ley- 
den. Richard Clyfton, who had served the Scrooby 
church as pastor or teacher, in his *^ Advertisement" 
(1612), described the order of worship in Johnson*s 
church at Amsterdam, which was as follows: "(1) 
Prayer and giving of thanks by the Pastor or 
Teacher. (2) The Scriptures are read, two or three 
chapters, as time serves with a brief explanation of 
their meaning. (3) The Pastor or Teacher then 
takes some passage of Scripture and expounds and 
enforces it. (4) The sacraments are administered. 



Life at Leyden 149 

(5) Some of the Psalms of David are sung by the 
whole congregation, both before and after the exer- 
cise of the Word. (.6) Collection is then made, as 
each one is able, for the support of the officers, and 
the poor." While it may not be stated with cer- 
tainty, the presumption at least is strong that a 
similar order of worship was followed by the church 
at Leyden. 

Robinson's congregation was free from the dissen- 
sions and the divisive spirit which had prevailed 
among the Separatists at Amsterdam. Edward 
Winslow, an educated young Englishman from 
Droitwich, visited Leyden in 1617, and was so im- 
pressed with the spirit of Christian brotherhood that 
prevailed in the Pilgrim community that he united 
with them, going with the first party to New Eng- 
land, signing the Mayflower Compact, and after- 
wards serving Plymouth Colony as Governor. Of 
the church at Leyden he wrote: "I persuade myself 
never people upon earth lived more lovingly together 
and parted more sweetly than we the Church at Ley- 
den did; parting not rashly in a distracted humor, 
but upon joint and serious deliberation, often seek- 
ing the mind of God by fasting and prayer, whose 
gracious presence was not only found with us, but 
His blessing upon us from that time until now.*' 
Governor Bradford bears similar testimony. In his 
"Dialogiics" he says : "They lived together in love 
and peace all their days without any considerable 



150 The Builders of a Nation 

difference or any disturbance that grew thereby, but 
such as was easily healed in love; and so they con- 
tinued until with mutual consent they removed into 
New England." In his "Historic of Plimoth Plajir 
tation" he says further: "If at any time, any differ- 
ence arose or offences broke out, as it cannot be 
but some time there will, even amongst the best of 
men ; they were ever so met with and nipt in the head 
betimes, or otherwise so well composed ; as still love, 
peace, and communion were continued. ... I know 
not but it may be spoken to the honor of God, and 
without prejudice to any. That such was the true 
piety, the humble zeal, and fervent love, of this 
people, whilst they thus lived together, towards God 
and his Ways ; and the single-heartedness and sincere 
affection, one towards another; that they came as 
near the primitive pattern of the first Churches, as 
any other Church of these later Times has done, 
according to their rank and quality." 

At peace within, what was the attitude of Robin- 
son's congregation towards those without, towards 
other religious bodies? The Ley den Separatists 
manifested a fraternal spirit towards those who in 
many respects differed with them. In his "Just and 
Necessary Apology*' their pastor said: "We account 
the Refonned Churclies true Churches of Jesus 
Christ, and here in Holland both profess and prac- 
tice communion with them in the hoi}' things of God ; 
their sermons such of ours frequent as understand 



Life at Lei/den 161 

the Dutch tongue; the sacraments we do administer 
unto their known members, if by any occasion any 
of them be present with us ; and we do desire from 
the Lord their holy and firm peace." 

David Calderwood, author of the "Perth Assem- 
hly,'* published by William Brewster and Thomas 
Brewer, was obliged to flee from Scotland and for a 
time remained at Leyden in seclusion, of whom Gov- 
ernor Winslow wrote: "This man, being very con- 
versant with our Pastor, Master Robinson; and 
using to come to hear him on the Sabbath : after Ser- 
mon ended, the Church being to partake in the Lord's 
Supper, this Minister stood up and desired he might, 
without offence, stay and see the manner of his ad- 
ministration and our participation in, that Ordi- 
nance. To whom our Pastor answered in these very 
words, or to this effect : 'Reverend Sir, You may not 
only stay to behold us ; but partake with us, if you 
please : for we acknowledge the Churches of Scotland 
to be the Churches of Christ, &c.' The Minister also 
replied to this purpose, if not also in the same words : 
'That for his part, he could comfortably partake 
with the Church; and willingly would: but that it is 
possible some of his brethren of Scotland might take 
offence at his act; which he desired to avoid, in re- 
gard of the opinion the English Churches (which 
they held communion withal) had of us.' However, 
he rendered thanks to Master Robinson ; and desired, 
in that respect, to be only a spectator of us." 



152 The Builders of a Nation 

It was one thing of course to manifest a fraternal 
spirit towards members of the Reformed Churches 
of Holland, Scotland and France, as seems to have 
been the practice of the Ley den congregation, but ic 
was quite a diiferent thing to manifest that same 
spirit towards the members of the Church of Eng- 
land from which they had separated because of its 
corruptions and upon Avhich they were inclined to 
look as an apostate church. But even here Robin- 
son's church was not lacking in the spirit of Chris- 
tian charity. Rev. John Paget, minister of the 
Scotch Presbyterian Church at Amsterdam, in a 
controversial work against Ainsworth, entitled "An 
Arrow against the Separation of the Brownists'" 
(1618), thus refers to the practice of the Leyden 
church : "Seeing Master Robinson and his people do 
now, as divers of themselves confess, receive the mem- 
bers of the Church of England into their Congrega- 
tion ; and this without any renunciation of the 
Church of England; without any repentance 'for 
their idolatries committed' in the Church of Eng- 
land: how can you hold them (at Leyden) to be a 
true Church, and communion with them lawful: see- 
ing that by y^our reasoning they are tied in the cords 
of their sin, as well as we.'* 

Robinson's own views upon this point are of in- 
terest. In his work "Of Religious Communion" he 
says "that we who profess a Separation from the 
English national, provincial, diocesan and parochial 



Life at Letfden 153 

church and churches, in the whole foniial state and 
order thereof, may, notwithstanding, lawfully com- 
municate in private prayer, and other like holy exer- 
cises (not performed in their church communion, 
nor by their church power and ministry) with the 
godly amongst them, though remaining of infirmity 
members of the same church or churches, except some 
other extraordinary bar come in the way between 
them and us." 

Later he acknowledged the propriety of "hearing 
godly Ministers preach and pray in the public As- 
semblies" of the English church, and while he could 
"not communicate with or submit unto the said 
church order," nevertheless in his "Treatise of the 
Lawfulness of Hearing of the Ministers in the 
Church of England" he said: "For myself, thus I 
believe with my heart before God, and profess witli 
my tongue, and have before the world, that I have 
one and the same faith, hope, spirit, baptism, and 
Lord, which I had in the Church of England, and 
none other ; that I esteem so many in that church of 
what state, or order soever, as are truly partakers 
of that faith, as I account many thousands to be, 
for my Christian brethren, and myself a fellow-mem- 
ber with them of that one mystical body of Christ 
scattered far and wide throughout the world ; that 
I have always, in spirit and affection, all Christian 
fellowship and communion with them, and am most 
ready in all outward actions, and exercises of re- 



154 The Builders of a Nation 

ligion, lawful and lawfully done, to express the same : 
and withal, that I am persuaded, the hearmg of the 
Word of God there preached in the manner, and 
upon the grounds formerly mentioned, is both lawful 
and, upon occasion, necessary for me, and all true 
Christians, withdrawing from that hierarchical or- 
der of church government and ministry and appur- 
tenances thereof." 

About the time that these words were written a 
practical application of the principle involved came 
up for consideration. A Separatist congregation in 
London had disciplined a young woman for attend- 
ing the services of the Church of England, but on her 
promise to discontinue the practice had restored her 
to fellowship. Not quite sure that their action in 
the case had been proper, the London church sought 
the opinion of the congregation at Leyden. With 
the unanimous consent of the brethren Robinson re- 
plied, approving the action of the church in restor- 
ing the offender to fellowship "though she had 
continued her practice upon occasion, and without 
neglect of the church whereof she was a member, how 
much more leaving it as she did." 

At peace with themselves, and having a spirit of 
Christian tolerance far in advance of the age in 
which they lived, the members of this Separatist 
congregation stood high in the esteem of their Dutch 
townsmen at Leyden. Bradford writes : "And, 
first, though many of them were poor ; yet there was 



Life at Lei/den 165 

none so poor but, if they were known to be of that 
Congregation, the Dutch, either bakers or others, 
would trust them in any reasonable matter, when 
they wanted money: because they had found by ex- 
perience, how careful they were to keep their word; 
and saw them so painful and diligent in their call- 
ings. Yea, they would strive to get their custom; 
and to employ them above others in their work, for 
their honesty and diligence. Again, the Magistrates 
of the Cit}^, about the time of their coming away, 
or a little before, in the public Place of Justice, gave 
this commendable testimony of them, in the reproof 
of the Waloons, who were of the French Church in 
that city. 'These English,' said they, 'have lived 
amongst us, now these twelve years ; and yet we 
never had any suit, or accusation come against any 
of them: but your strifes and quarrels are con- 
tinual, &c.' " 

During these years at Leyden, the church not only 
enjoyed peace but prosperity, the congregation in- 
creasing in numbers by reason of those who came 
over from England until it numbered more than 
three hundred souls. Mention has already been made 
of Thomas Brewer and Edward Winslow who rose 
to considerable prominence among them. John 
Carver, a wealthy Puritan from Kent, who was in- 
strumental in effecting the migration to the New 
World and who became the first governor of 
Plymouth Colony ; Robert Cushman, who was asso- 



156 The Builders of a Nation 

ciated with Carver in making arrangements for tliis 
migration ; Samuel Fuller, the good physician of 
the community at Plymouth, and who with Carver 
was a deacon in the church at Leyden; Isaac Aller- 
ton, and others were among those who united with 
the church after its members had taken up their 
abode in Leyden. Myles Standish, who was destined 
to become the military leader of the Pilgrims, al- 
though not a member, seems to have enjoyed friendly 
relations with the church at Leyden. 

With the peace and prosperity which the church 
enjoyed, it might seem as if it had found a perma- 
nent home in the Netherlands, but causes were at 
work which induced this little band of Separatists 
to leave the Old World and seek a home in the New. 
These causes we shall consider in the chapter that 
follows. 



CHAPTER VII 



LEAVING HOLLAND 



Bj interfering with the free exercise of their re- 
ligious faith and by persecutions more or less severe, 
the members of the Scrooby congregation had been 
driven from the land of their nativity. Amsterdam, 
where tliey first sought refuge, proved an uncon- 
genial dwelling place because of the strifes and dis- 
sensions that prevailed among the Separatist 
congregations which had taken up their abode in 
the city. At Ley den they were free from these dis- 
turbing elements and at the same time enjoyed full 
liberty in carrying out their convictions as to church 
life and order. That they had intended to make 
Leyden their permanent home is evident from the 
purchase of the large house on the Klocksteeg oppo- 
site St. Peter's Church, which they had fitted up for 
use as a place of worship, and from the fact that 
several of their members had become naturalized 
citizens of Leyden. But with the passage of the 
years the painful fact was forced upon them that 
if their principles were to prevail they must seek 
a home outside of Holland. 

157 



168 The Builders of a Nation 

Bradford enumerates the causes which led to their 
removal: "After they had lived in tliis city some 
eleven or twelve years — which is the more observ- 
able, being the whole time of the famous Truce 
between that State and the Spaniards — and sundry 
of them were taken away by death ; and many others 
began to be well stricken in years : the grave mis- 
tress, Experience, having taught them many things ; 
those prudent Governors (Robinson and Brewster), 
with sundry of the sagest members, began both 
deeply to apprehend their present dangers ; and 
wisely to foresee the future, and think of timely 
remedy. In the agitation of their thoughts, and 
much discourse of things hereabout, at length they 
began to incline to this conclusion — of removal to 
some other place. Not out of any newfangledness, 
or other such giddy humor ; by which men are 
oftentimes transported to their great hurt and 
danger: but for sundry weighty and solid reasons; 
some of the chief of which, I will here briefly touch: 

"And first, they saw, and found by experience, 
the hardness of the place and country to be such as 
few, in comparison, would come to them; and fewer 
that would bide it out, and continue with them. 
For many that came to them, and many more that 
desired to be with them, could not endure that great 
labor and hard fare; with other* inconveniences, 
which they underwent, and were contented with. But 
though they loved their persons, approved their 



Leaving Holland 159 

Cause, and honored their sufferings: yet they left 
them, as it were weeping, as Orpah did her mother- 
in-law Naomi (Ruth 1:14) ; or as those Romans did 
Cato in Utica, who desired to be excused and borne 
with, though they could not all be Catos. For 
many, though they desired to enjoy the ordinances 
of God in their purity and the liberty of the Gospel 
with them; yet, alas, they admitted of bondage with 
danger of conscience, rather than to endure those 
hardships. Yea, some preferred and chose prisons 
in England; rather than this liberty in Holland, 
with these afflictions. But it was thought that if a 
better and easier place of living could be had, it 
would draw many ; and take away these discourage- 
ments. Yea, their Pastor would often say. That 
many of those who both wrote and preached now 
against them ; if they were in a place where they 
might have liberty and live comfortably, they would 
then practice as they did." 

Among those who "preferred and chose prisons 
in England; rather than this liberty in Holland, 
with these afflictions," the best known, perhaps, was 
Henry Jacob, who had studied at Oxford and after- 
wards took orders in the Anglican church. For 
some years he remained a stanch Puritan, writing 
treatises "against the reasons and objections of Mr. 
Francis Johnson and other of the Separation com- 
monly called Brownists," but finally in 1610, so it is 
believed, he united with the church at Leyden. Six 



160 The Builders of a Nation 

years later he returned to England and organized 
a Separatist church at Southwark, which, in spite 
of the persecutions sustained during its earher his- 
tory, has enjoyed a continuous existence to this day 
and is recognized as the oldest Congregational 
church in England, although a considerable portion 
of its membership with the pastor, John Lathrop, 
emigrated to Plymouth Colony in 1634 and settled 
at West Barnstable. Notwithstanding the severity 
of the repressive measures invoked against them by 
the English authorities, the Separatists could not bo 
suppressed. In 1631, Bishop Hall of Exeter, writ- 
ing to Archbishop Laud, said : "I hear to my grief 
that there are eleven congregations (as they call 
them) of Separatists about the City [of London] 
furnished with their idly-pretended pastors, who 
meet together in brew-houses and such other places 
of resort every Sunday." As these Separatists 
seemed to prefer the persecutions of England to lib- 
erty of conscience in a strange land,* the outlook 
for the Leyden congregation was not encouraging. 
Bradford continues: "Secondly. They saw that 

* Thomas Helwys, a member of the Gainsborough congrega- 
tion who returned from Amsterdam in 1611 to organize the 
first Baptist church in England, criticized Robinson and others 
for fleeing from England on the ground that flight from perse- 
cution "had been the overthrow of religion in this island; the 
best, ablest, and greater part being gone, and leaving behind 
them some few who, by the others' departure, have had their 
affliction and contempt increased, hath been the cause of many 
falling back, and of their adversaries' rejoicing." Robinson 
repli^ that "it was Mr. Helwys who above all, either guides 



Leavmg HoUand 161 

though the people generally bore all these difficulties 
very cheerfully and with a resolute courage, being 
in the best and strength of their j^ears ; yet old age 
began to steal on many of them, and their great 
and continual labors with other crosses and sorrows 
hastened it before the time: so as it was not only 
probably thought, but apparently seen, that, within 
a few years more, they would be in danger to scat- 
ter, by necessities pressing them ; or sink under their 
burdens ; or both. And therefore according to the 
divine proverb, that 'a wise man seeth the plague 
when it cometh, and hideth himself,' Prov. XXII :3 
(Geneva Version) ; so they, like skillful and beaten 
soldiers, were fearful either to be entrapped or sur- 
rounded by their enemies, so as they should neither 
be able to fight, nor fly. And therefore thought it 
better to dislodge betimes to some place of better 
advantage, and less danger; if any such could be 
found. 

"Thirdly. As necessity was a taskmaster over 
them, so they were forced to be such not only to 
their servants ; but in a sort, to their dearest chil- 
dren: the which, as it did not a little wound the 

or others, furthered this passage into strange countries: and 
if any brought oars he brought sails." In justification of their 
course he appealed to the flight of Jacob, Moses, David, Jere- 
miah, Baruch, and Elijah; to the flight of Joseph and Marj- 
with the infant Jesus into Egj'pt; to the example of our Lord 
during His ministrj' in keeping out of the way of His enemies 
until His hour was come; to His direction to His disciples that 
when persecuted in one city they should flee to another; and to 
the example of Peter, Paul, and the rest of the apostles. 



162 The Builders of a Nation 

tender parts of many a loving father and mother, 
so it produced hkewise sundry sad and sorrowful 
effects. For many of their children (that were of 
best dispositions and gracious inclinations ; having 
learnt to bear the yoke in their youth, and willing 
to bear part of their parents* burden) were, often 
times, so oppressed with their heavy labors, that, 
though their minds were free and willing; yet their 
bodies bowed under the weight of the same, and 
became decrepit in their early youth; the vigor 
of Nature being consumed in the very bud as it 
were. 

"But that which was more lamentable, and of all 
sorrows most heavy to be borne, was that many of 
their children (by these occasions ; and the great 
licentiousness of youth in that country, and the 
manifold temptations of the place) were drawn away 
by evil examples into extravagant and dangerous 
courses ; getting the reins off their necks, and de- 
parting from their parents. Some became soldiers. 
Others took upon them far voyages by sea; and 
other some worse courses, tending to dissoluteness 
and the danger of their souls ; to the great grief of 
their parents, and dishonor of God. So that they 
saw their posterity would be in danger to degen- 
erate and be corrupted. 

"Lastly, and which was not least, a great hope 
and inward zeal they had of laying some good foun- 
dation, or at least to make some way thereunto, 



Leaving Holland 163 

for the propagating and advancing the Gospel of the 
Kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the 
world: yea, though they should be but even as step- 
ping stones unto others, for the performing of so 
great a work." 

Having resolved to seek a home elsewhere, the first 
question to confront them, of course, was that of a 
location where they could settle, be free from per- 
secution and an unwholesome environment, carry out 
their ideals and insure the perpetuity of their prin- 
ciples. In 1872, Dr. Henry M. Dexter discovered 
among the records of the Scotch Presbyterian 
Church at Amsterdam a document signed by An- 
tonius Walaeus and Festus Hommius, professors of 
Theology in Leyden University, in which the state- 
ment is made that Domine Robinson "minister of the 
English church in this place, which is called that 
of the Brownists," being desirous of removing the 
schism between his "congregation, and the congre- 
gation of the other English in this country" had 
declared "many times that, finding here so many 
difficulties in his congregation in the way of accom- 
plishing this, he had therefore resolved upon remov- 
ing with a good part of his congregation to the West 
Indies, where he did not doubt that he could carry 
out this design." 

Liberal offers were made b}'^ the Dutch to induce 
them to remove into Zealand or to go under them 
to the Hudson River. Some of the congregation 



164 The Builders of a Nation 

wished to go to Guiana, of which Sir Walter Raleigh 
and later Robert Harcourt had written in such 
glowing tenns, but it was feaixxl that the climate 
might not agree with their ''English bodies," to 
which was added the further danger lest "the jealous 
Spaniard would never suffer them long: but would 
displant, or overthrow, them, as he did the French 
in Florida, who were seated further from his richest 
countries; and the sooner, because the}' should have 
none to protect them; and their own strength would 
be too small to resist so potent an enemy and so 
near a neighbor." 

Others wished to go to Virginia, but "it was ob- 
jected, That if they lived among the English which 
were there planted; or so near them as to be under 
their government ; they should be in as great danger 
to be troubled and persecuted for their Cause of 
Religion, as if they lived in England: and it might 
be worse. And if they lived too far off; they should 
neither have succor, nor defence from them." 

Finally they decided "to live as a distinct body b}" 
themselves, under the general government of ^'ir- 
ginia ; and by their friends to sue to His ^lajesty 
that he would be pleased to grant them Freedom 
of Religion : and that this might be obtained, they 
were put in good hope by some Great Persons of 
good rank and quality, that were made their 
friends.'' 

HavHlng reached this decision, two members of 



Leaving Holla/nd 165 

the Leyden Church, John Carver and Robert Cush- 
man, were sent over to England to solicit permis- 
sion from the King to settle at some point in the 
territory controlled by the Virginia Company with 
which negotiations were thereafter to be made. To 
expedite matters they took witli them a document 
signed by Jolm Robinson and William Brewster, en- 
titled *'Seven Articles which the Church of Leyden 
sent to the Council of England to be considered of, 
in respect of their judgments : occasioned about their 
going to Virginia," which read as follows: 

"1. To the Confession of Faith published in the 
name of the Church of England, and to every Article 
thereof; we do (with the Reformed Churches where 
we live, and also elsewhere) assent wholly. 

"2. As we do acknowledge the Doctrine of Faith 
there taught; so do we, the fruits and effects of the 
same Doctrine, to the begetting of saving faith in 
thousands in the land. Conformists and Reformists, 
as they are called: with whom also, as with our 
brethren, we do desire to keep spiritual communion 
in peace; and will practice in our parts all lawful 
things. 

"3. The King's INIajesty we acknowledge for Su- 
preme Governor in his Dominions in all causes, and 
over all persons: and that none may decline or ap- 
peal from his autliority or judgment in any cause 
whatsoever: but that in all things olx^licnce is due 
unto him; either active, if the thing commanded be 



166 The Builders of a Nation 

not against God's Word ; or passive, if it be, except 
pardon can be obtained. 

"4. We judge it lawful for His Majesty to ap- 
point Bishops Civil Overseers or Officers in authority 
under liim in the several Provinces, Dioceses, Con- 
gregations, or Parishes, to oversee the Churches, and 
govern them civilly according to the laws of the 
land: unto whom, they are, in all things, to give 
an account; and by them, to be ordered according 
to godliness. 

"5. The authority of the present Bishops in the 
land, we do acknowledge so far forth as the same 
is derived from His Majesty unto them; and as they 
proceed in his name : whom we will also therein honor 
in all things; and him, in them. 

"6. We believe that no Synod, Classes, Convoca- 
tion, or Assembly of Ecclesiastical Officers hath any 
power or authority at all but as the same by the 
Magistrate given unto them. 

"7. Lastly, we desire to give unto all Superiors 
due honor, to preserve the unity of the Spirit with 
all that fear God, to have peace with all men what 
in us lieth, and wherein we err to be instructed by 
any." 

These seem at first glance like large concessions 
if not a virtual surrender of their principles, but 
upon closer inspection we find that there are impor- 
tant qualifications to the concessions tliat they were 
willing to make. For example they acknowledge 



Leaving Holland 167 

the King's Majesty "for Supreme Governor in his 
Dominions in all causes and over all persons," "that 
in all things obedience is due unto him" provided 
that "the thing commanded be not against God's 
Word," and that of course applies to everything 
that follows, including the authority of the bishops 
over the "several Provinces, Dioceses, Congrega- 
tions, or Parishes" to whom they conceded only a 
"civil" or secular government of the Churches and 
this must "be ordered according to godliness." As 
thus qualified there was no deviation from their real 
principles, the "Seven Articles" not being intended 
as an exposition of their doctrines as to church or- 
ganization, so much as a basis by which some agree- 
ment could be reached with the English authorities. 
Cushman and Carver were able to enlist the 
friendly offices of Sir Edwin Sandys, son of the Arch- 
bishop of York, under whom Brewster had held the 
manor house at Scrooby. Under date of November 
12, 1617, Sandys wrote to Robinson and Brewster 
stating that the agents of the Leyden congregation 
had "been in communication with divers select 
Gentlemen of His Majesty's Council for Virginia: 
and by the Writing of Seven Articles, subscribed 
with your names, have given them that good degree 
of satisfaction, which hath carried them on with a 
resolution to set forward your desire in the best 
sort that may be, for your own, and the public, 
good." 



168 Tlie Builders of a Nation 

Upon the return of Cushman and Carver, a state- 
ment was drawn up by the church setting forth their 
requests in writing, which, as the Council had de- 
sired, was subscribed with the hands of the greatest 
part of the congregation. This statement was sent 
to the Council by the hand of John Carver and 
another member of their company, with a letter 
signed by Robinson and Brewster setting forth 
"these instances of inducement: 

"First. We verily believe and trust the Lord is 
with us ; unto whom, and whose service, we have 
given ourselves in many trials: and that he will 
graciously prosper our endeavor, according to the 
simplicity of our hearts therein. 

"Secondly. We are well weaned from the delicate 
milk of our mother country : and inured to the diffi- 
culties of a strange and hard land: which yet, in 
great part, we have, by patience, overcome. 

"Thirdly. The people are, for the body of them, 
industrious and frugal, we think we may safely say, 
as any company of people in the world. 

"Fourthly. We are knit together, as a body, in 
a most strict and sacred Bond and Covenant of the 
Lord; of the violation whereof we make great con- 
science: and by virtue whereof, we do hold ourselves 
straitly tied to all care of each other's good, and 
of the whole, by every one; and so mutually. 

"Lastly. It is not with us as with otjier men 
whom small things can discourage, or small discon- 



Leaving Holland 169 

tentments cause to wish themselves at home again. 
We know our entertainment in England, and in 
Holland. We shall much prejudice our arts and 
means bj removal. If we should be driven to return, 
we should not hope to recover our present helps 
and comforts : neither indeed look ever, for ourselves, 
to attain unto the like in any other place, during 
our lives ; which are now drawing towards their 
periods." 

Some members of his Majesty's Privy Council 
appear to have desired further information touch- 
ing three points. A letter was accordingly ad- 
dressed to Sir John Wolstenholme enclosing two 
notes, a briefer and a longer one, either of which he 
might show to the Council as he saw fit. In the first 
it was stated that with respect to the officers in 
the church, Pastors, Elders, and Deacons ; and the 
two sacraments. Baptism and the Lord's Supper; 
they in all points agreed with the French Reformed 
Churches "according to their public Confession of 
Faith." They further expressed their willingness to 
take the Oath of Supremacy if required, and conve- 
nient satisfaction be not given by their taking the 
Oath of Allegiance. In the second note they pointed 
out the slight differences existing between them and 
the Reformed Churches. Their ministers pray with 
uncovered heads, the French covered. They choose 
for elders such as were able to teach, the French 
did not. Their officers were chosen for life, the 



170 The Builders of a Nation 

others annually. Their officers administered disci- 
pline publicly before the congregation, while the 
French did so privately in their consistories. 

This letter and the accompanying notes were con- 
veyed to Wolstenholme by Sabine Staresmore, a 
young Separatist who had joined the church in Lon- 
don at its organization by Henry Jacob in 1616, 
but later became a member of the church at Leyden. 
He was present when the communication was opened 
and read. Sir John asked who made the ministers? 
To which Staresmore replied that the power of mak- 
ing was in the church, to be ordained by imposition 
of hands, by the fittest members they had, for such 
authority must either be in the church or from the 
pope, who was Antichrist. To which Sir John re- 
torted that what the pope holds good such as the 
Trinity, we do well to assent to, but that point he 
would not then dispute. The letters, however, he 
would not show lest they should spoil all. He had 
hoped that they would be of the archbishop's mind 
in the calling of ministers, but it appeared that they 
diff^ered. Thereupon Staresmore asked what good 
news he had for him to write on the morrow. To 
which Wolstenholme replied, "Very good news, for 
both the king's majesty and the bishops have con- 
sented." 

By the consent of the king and the bishops to 
their settling in the territory of the Virginia Com- 
pany, we are not to infer that any formal grant 



Leaving Holland 171 

of religious toleration was to be obtained from the 
king or the ecclesiastical authorities. All that was 
implied was that if the. members of the Scrooby con- 
gregation went to America and conducted themselves 
peaceably they would not be disturbed in their wor- 
ship. Sir Edwin Sandys had induced Sir Robert 
Naunton, principal Secretary of State, to appeal to 
King James on their behalf. Naunton urged his 
Majesty to give way to such a people who would 
endeavor the advancement of his kingdom and the 
advancement of the gospel by all due means, where- 
upon the king replied that this was a good and 
honest notion, and asked what profits might be ex- 
pected in what they intended. "From fishing." "So 
God have my soul," replied the king, " 'tis an honest 
trade! It was the Apostles' own calling!" After- 
wards the king suggested to Naunton that these 
people had better confer with the Bishops of Can- 
terbury and London. But Winslow, who is the au- 
thority for this interview, adds : "Whereupon we 
were advised to persist upon his first approbation, 
and not to entangle ourselves with them." 

Some of the members of the Virginia Company 
had hoped to have liberty in religion "confirmed un- 
der the King's broad seal," but as Bradford says, 
"it proved a harder piece of work than they took 
it for: for though many moans were used to bnng 
it about ; yet it could not be effected. For there 
were divers of good worth labored with the King to 



172 The Builders of a Nation 

obtain it, amongst whom was Sir Robert Naunton, 
one of his chief Secretaries ; and some others wrought 
with the Archbishop to give way thereunto: but it 
proved all m vain. Yet thus far they prevailed, in 
sounding His Majesty's mind, That he would con- 
nive at them, and not molest them; provided they 
carried themselves peaceably : but to allow, or toler- 
ate, them by his public authority, under his seal; 
they found it would not be. And this was all, the 
Chief of the Virginia Company, or any others of 
their best friends, could do in the case. Yet they 
persuaded them to go on : for they presumed they 
should not be troubled." 

When the agents of the Leyden church returned 
and reported all that they had been able to accom- 
plish, according to Bradford, "this made a damp in 
the business ; and caused distraction. For many 
were afraid that if they should unsettle themselves, 
and put off their estates, and go upon these hopes, 
it might prove dangerous, and but a sandy founda- 
tion. Yea, it was thought they might better have 
presumed thereupon, without making any suit at all: 
than, having made it, to be thus rejected. But some 
of the Chiefest thought otherwise, and that they 
might well proceed hereupon ; and that the King's 
Majesty was willing enough to suffer them without 
molestation: though, for other reasons, he would not 
confirm it by any public act. And furtliermore, if 
there were no security in this promise intimated; 



Leaving HoUand 173 

there would be no great certainty in a further con- 
firmation of the same. For if, afterwards, there 
should be a purpose, or desire, to wrong them ; 
though they had a seal as broad as the house floor, 
it would not serve the turn : for there would be means 
enough found to call, or reverse, it. And seeing 
therefore the course was probable ; they must rest 
herein on God's Providence, as they had done in 
other things." 

Other messengers, William Brewster and Robert 
Cushman, were now dispatched to England to con- 
clude the negotiations with the Virginia Company 
and "to procure a patent with as good and ample 
conditions as they might by any good means obtain. 
As also to treat and conclude with such merchants 
and friends as had manifested their forwardness to 
provoke to, and adventure in, this Voyage." But 
upon their arrival they found that the Virginia Com- 
pany had become embroiled by dissensions from 
within. On one side were the Earl of Warwick, Sir 
Nathaniel Rich, and Alderman Johnson, who sup- 
ported Sir Thomas Smith, who for twelve years 
had served the Company as treasurer. On the other 
were the Earl of Southampton, Lord Cavendish, and 
Sir Edward Sackville, who compelled Smith to re- 
sign his office and elected Sir Edwin Sandys instead. 
The disputes thus occasioned prevented action in 
the projects of the Separatists. As Cushman wrote, 
"the dissensions and factions, as they term it, 



174 The Builders of a Nation 

amongst the Council and Company of Virginia are 
such, as that since we came up no business could 
by them be dispatched." At length, however, a 
patent was obtained under tlie seal of the Virginia 
Company "not taken out in the name of any of 
their own, but in the name of Mr. John Wincob, a 
religious gentleman then belonging to the Countess 
of Lincoln, who intended to go with them." But as 
it turned out he did not go, neither was the patent 
ever used, nor the lands conveyed by it ever occu- 
pied. So far as is known, neither the original nor 
any copy of this patent or any description of its 
grants were preserved. 

While matters were pending with the Virginia 
Company, the promise of a way out of their difficul- 
ties appeared from another quarter. According to 
Governor Winslow, Dutch traders offered to trans- 
port the entire congregation to the Hudson River, to 
provide cattle for every family if they would go 
under them, and to furnish protection as long as 
needed, leaving the colony to self-government in the 
management of its internal affairs. On February 12, 
1620, the Stadtholder was petitioned for protection 
to Robinson^s congregation should they emigrate 
thither. In this petition the following occurs : 
*'Now it happens that there is residing at Leyden 
a certain English Preacher, versed in the Dutch 
language, who is well inclined to proceed thither 
to live: assuring the Petitioners that he has the 



Leavmg Holland 175 

means of inducing over four hundred families to 
accompany him thither, both out of this country 
and England. Provided they would bo guarded and 
preserved from all violence on the part of other 
potentates, by the authority and under the protec- 
tion of your Princely Excellency and the High and 
Mighty Lords States General, in the propagation 
of the true pure Christian religion, in the instruction 
of the Indians in that country in true learning, and 
in converting them to the Christian faith: and thus, 
through the mercy of the Lord, to the greater glory 
of this country's government, to plant there a new 
Commonwealth ; all under the order and Command 
of your Princely Excellency and the High and 
Mighty Lords States General." Two ships of war 
were asked for their protection, but on April 11th 
the States General rejected the petition. 

According to Bradford negotiations with the 
Dutch were broken off by the advice of one Thomas 
Weston, a London merchant, who "came to Leyden 
about the same time: who was well acquainted with 
some of them, and a furtherer of them in their for- 
mer proceedings. Having much conference with 
Master Robinson and others of the Chief of them; 
persuaded them to go on, as it seems ; and not to 
meddle with the Dutch, or too much to depend on the 
Virginia Company. For if that failed, if they came 
to resolution, he and such Merchants as were his 
friends, together with their own means, would set 



176 The Builders of a Nation 

them forth : and they should make ready, and neither 
fear want of shipping nor money; for what they 
wanted should be provided. And, not so much for 
himself, as for the satisfying of such friends as he 
should procure to adventure in this business, they 
were to draw such Articles of Agreement, and make 
such Propositions, as might the better induce his 
friends to venture." 

John Carver and Robert Cushman were sent over 
to London to conclude arrangements and terms with 
the Merchants. The Articles of Agreement as finally 
decided upon were as follows : 

"1. The Adventurers and Planters do agree. That 
every person that goeth, being aged sixteen years 
and upwards, be rated at £10: and £10 to be ac- 
counted a Single Share. 

"2. That he that goeth in person, and fumisheth 
himself out with £10, either in money or other pro- 
visions, be accounted as having £20 in Stock : and in 
the Division shall receive a Double Share. 

"3. The persons transported and the Adventur- 
ers shall continue their Joint Stock and Partnership 
together, the space of Seven Years ; except some un- 
expected impediment do cause the whole Company to 
agree otherwise; during which time, all profits and 
benefits that are got by trade, traffic, trucking, 
working, fishing, or any other means, of any person, 
or persons, remain still in the Common Stock until 
the Division. 



Leaving Holland 177 

"4. That, at their coming' there, they choose out 
such a number of fit persons as may furnish their 
ships and boats for fishing upon the sea : employing 
the rest in their several faculties upon the land ; 
as building houses, tilling and planting the ground, 
and making such commodities as shall be most use- 
ful for the Colony. 

"5. That at the end of the Seven Years, the Capi- 
tal and Profits (viz. the houses, lands, goods, and 
chattels) be equally divided betwixt the Adventur- 
ers and Planters. Which done, every man shall be 
free from other of them, of any debt or detriment 
concerning this Adventure. 

"6. Whosoever cometh to the Colony hereafter, 
or putteth any into the Stock, sliall at the end of 
the Seven Years, be allowed proportionately to the 
time of his so doing. 

"7. He that shall carry his wife and children, or 
servants, shall be allowed for every person, now aged 
sixteen years and upward, a Single Share in the 
Division ; or, if he provide them necessaries, a Double 
Share: or, if they be between ten years old and six- 
teen, then two of them to be reckoned for a person, 
both in Transportation and Division. 

"8. That such children as now go, and are under 
the age of ten years, have no other Share in the 
Division but fifty acres of unmanured land. 

"9. That such persons as die before the Seven 
Years be expired, their Executors to have their part 



178 The Builders of a Nation 

or Share at the Division, proportionate!}' to the time 
of their life iu the Colony. 

"10. That all such persons as are of this Colony 
are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all pro- 
visions out of the Common Stock and goods of the 
said Colony." 

Two points supposed by the members of the con- 
gregation to have been settled were omitted from 
these stipulations, viz. : that they should be the pro- 
prietors of their houses, and of the improved lands, 
especially garden and home lots ; and that two days 
in the week should be given to each of them for their 
own private employment. Cushman, especially, was 
blamed for yielding these points but he justified his 
conduct on the ground tliat if lie had acted otherwise 
the whole undertaking would have fallen through. 

The preliminary arrangements having been con- 
cluded, "they had a solemn meeting and a day of 
humiliation, to seek tlie Lord for his direction," 
Mr. Robinson preaching from the text, "And David's 
men said unto him, See, we be afraid here in Judah ; 
how much more, if we come to Keilah against the 
host of the Philistines? Then David asked counsel 
of the Lord again." I Saml. XXIII :3, 4 (Geneva 
Version). After the sermon it was decided who 
should go and who should remain. Those that re- 
mained, constituting the majority, required the pas- 
tor to remain with them, while the others desired 



Leaving Hollamd 179 

the ruling elder, William Brewster, to accompany 
them, whicli was agreed upon. It was also decided 
hy mutual consent that those who went, on account 
of the distance and the dangers of the voyage, so 
that perhaps they should never meet again in this 
world, should constitute "an absolute church of 
themselves" but with the understanding that when 
the remainder came over to them, or if any returned 
to Leyden, "they should be reputed as members with- 
out any further dismission or testimonial." Those 
who remained also promised that "if the Lord gave 
them life, and means, and opportunity, they would 
come to them as soon as they could." 

Preparations were now hastened for their depar- 
ture. Those who were to embark upon tliis hazard- 
ous enterprise j\cross the seas sold what property 
they possessed at Leyden and turned the money into 
a common purse. A small vessel, the Speedwell, 
was purchased for use on the voyage and after they 
had reached America, while a larger vessel, the May- 
flower, was hired at London to transport them to 
their destination. 

Finally the preparations were completed. A 
solemn day of fasting and prayer was observed upon 
which Robinson preached the last sermon that these 
departing Pilgrims should ever hear from his lips, his 
text being: "And there at the River, by Ahava, I 
proclaimed a fast, that we might humble ourselves 



180 The Builders of a Nation 

before our God, and seek of him a right way for 
us, and for our children, and for all our substance." 
Ezra VIII: 21 (Geneva Version). 

Says Winslow: "Amongst other wholesome in- 
structions and exhortations, he used these expres- 
sions, or to the same purpose: 

"We were now, ere long, to part asunder; and 
the Lord knowcth whetlier ever he should live to 
see our faces again. But whether the Lord had 
appointed it or not; he charged us, before God and 
his blessed angels, to follow him no further than he 
followed Christ: and if God should reveal anything 
to us by an}' other Insti-ument of his, to be as ready 
to receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth 
by his Ministry. For he was very confident the 
Lord had more truth and light yet to break fortli 
out of his holy Word. 

"He took occasion also miserably to bewail the 
state and condition of the Reformed Churches, who 
were come to a period in religion ; and would go no 
further than the Instruments of their Reformation. 
As, for example, the Lutherans : they could not be 
drawn to go beyond what Luther saw. For whatever 
part of God's will, he had further imparted and re- 
vealed to Calvin ; they will rather die than embrace 
it. 'And so, also,' saith he, 'you see the Calvinists. 
They stick where he left them: a misery much to be 
lamented. 



Leaving Holland 181 

" 'For though they were precious sliining lights 
in their Times ; yet God had not revealed his whole 
will to them: and were they now living,' saith he, 
'they would be as ready and willing to embrace fur- 
ther light, as that they had received/ 

"Here also he put us in mind of our Church Cove- 
nant; at least that part of it whereby 'we promise 
and covenant with God, and one with another, to 
receive whatsoever light or truth shall be made 
kno^nl to us from his written Word': but withal 
exhorted us to take heed what we received for tinith ; 
and well to examine and compare, and weigh it with 
other Scriptures of truth before we received it. 
'For,' saith he, 'it is not possible the Christian world 
should come so lately out of such thick darkness ; 
and that full perfection of knowledge should break 
forth at once.' 

"Another thing he commended to us, was that we 
should use all means to avoid and shake off the 
name of 'Brownist'; being a mere nickname and 
brand to make religion odious, and the Professors 
of it, to the Christian World. 'And to tbat end,' 
said he, 'there will be no difference between the un- 
conformable Ministers and you ; when they come to 
the practice of the Ordinances out of the Kingdom.' 
And so he advised us, by all means, to endeavor to 
close with the godly party of the Kingdom of Eng- 
land : and rather to study union than division, viz. : 



182 The Builders of a Nation 

How near we might possibly, without sin, close with 
them; than, in the least measure, to affect division 
or separation from them, 'And be not loath to take 
another Pastor or Teacher,' saith he ; 'for that Flock 
that hath two Shepherds is not endangered; but 
secured by it.' Many . other things there were of 
great and weighty consequence, which he commended 
to us." 

From Leyden, accompanied by many of their 
friends, they journeyed to Delf shaven, fourteen 
miles distant, and on the day following, July 22, 
1620, set sail. Of their departure Bradford says: 
"That night was spent with little sleep by the most ; 
but with friendly entertainment, and Christian dis- 
course, and other real expressions of true Christian 
love. The next day, the wind being fair, they went 
aboard and their friends with them ; when truly dole- 
ful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting. 
To see what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound 
amongst them ; what tears did gush from every eye, 
and pithy speeches pierced each heart: that sundry 
of the Dutch strangers, that stood on the key as 
spectators, could not refrain from tears. Yet com- 
fortable and sweet it was to see such lively and true 
expressions of dear and unfeigned love. But the 
tide, which stays for no man, calling them away 
that were thus loath to depart ; their Reverend Pas- 
tor, falling down on his knees, and they all with 



Leaving Holland 183 

him, with watery cheeks, commended them, with most 
fervent prayers, to the Lord and his blessing. And 
then, with mutual embraces and many tears, they 
took their leaves one of another: which proved to 
be the last leave to many of them.'* 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE VOYAGE OF THE "MAYFLOWER" 

Of their departure from Leyden, Bradford wrote: 
"So they left that goodly and pleasant city, which 
had been their resting place near twelve years : but 
they knew they were pilgrims and looked not much 
on these things ; but lift up their eyes to the heavens, 
their dearest country, and quieted their spirits." 
This appears to have been the first use of the term 
Pilgrims, by which these heroic Separatists after- 
wards came to be known, who braved the perils of 
the stormy deep and endured untold hardships on 
sea and land, that on virgin soil they might erect 
a new commonwealth dedicated to civil and religious 
liberty. 

The Speedwell set sail for Southampton after their 
sorrowful farewells at Delfshaven, to which Winslow 
adds these particulars : "And after prayer per- 
formed by our Pastor, where a flood of tears was 
poured out; they accompanied us to the ship: but 
were not able to speak to one another, for the abun- 
dance of sorrow to part. But we alone going aboard, 
the ship lying to the key and ready to set sail; the 

184 



The Voyage of the "Mayflower"' 185 

wind being fair, we gave them a volley of small shot 
and three pieces of ordnance: and so lifting up our 
hands to each other; and our hearts for each other 
to the Lord our God, we departed — and found his 
presence with us, in the midst of our manifold straits 
he carried us through." 

With fair winds and a prosperous voyage they 
soon reached Southampton, where the Mayflower, 
which had sailed from London, was in waiting with 
the English emigrants on board. At Southampton, 
the Pilgrims met with vexatious delays. Allusion 
has already been made to the "Conditions of Agree- 
ment" signed on behalf of the congregation by 
Cushman and Carver, with the important omissions 
in the matter of houses and lots as private property, 
and the two days in the week that the colonists were 
supposed to have for their own affairs. It appears 
that the Pilgrims were not apprised of these changes 
until after their arrival at Southampton, and when 
Weston came up from London "to see them dis- 
patched ; and to have the Conditions confirmed," 
they refused on the ground that these were not in 
accord with the original "Agreement," nor could 
they yield without the consent of the rest of their 
company at Leyden. Weston took offence at their 
refusal and abruptly returned to London, telling 
them "they must then look to stand on their own 
legs" and leaving unpaid bills amounting to nearly 
£100, to meet which they were forced to dispose of 



186 The Builders of a Nation 

some of their provisions, "some three or four score 
firkins of butter; which commodity they might best 
spare, having provided too large a quantity of that 
kind." 

A letter, signed by many "of the Chiefest of the 
Company," was sent from Southampton to the Mer- 
chants and Adventurers stating that the changes in 
the Articles had been made by Cushman without 
their knowledge or consent. In fact any authority 
on his part to make such changes was disclaimed. 
Nevertheless they were ready to make reasonable 
amends saying, "Yet since you conceive yourselves 
wronged as well as we; we thought meet to add a 
branch to the end of our Ninth Article as will almost 
heal that wound, of itself, which 3^ou conceive to be 
in it. But that it may appear to all men, that we 
are not lovers of ourselves only; but desire also the 
good and enriching of our friends, who have adven- 
tured your monies with our persons : we have added 
our last Article to the rest, promising you again 
in behalf of the whole Company, That if large profits 
should not arise within the Seven Years, that we will 
continue together longer with you; if the Lord give 
a blessing. 

"This, we hope, is sufficient to satisfy any in this 
case; especially friends: since we are assured that 
if the whole charge were divided into four parts ; 
three of them will not stand upon it, neither do re- 
gard it, &c. We are in such a strait at present as 



The Voyage of the "Mayflower" 187 

we are forced to sell away £60 worth of our pro- 
visions, to clear the haven ; and withal put ourselves 
upon great extremities : scarce having any butter, no 
oil, not a sole to mend a shoe, nor every man a sword 
to his side; wanting many muskets, much armor, 
&c. And yet we are willing to expose ourselves to 
such eminent dangers as are like to ensue, and trust 
to the good Providence of God rather than his name 
and truth shall be evil spoken of." 

The proposition to extend the time another seven 
years if "large profits" were not forthcoming, was 
never acceded to by the Merchants and Adventurers. 
In a footnote Bradford adds, "It was well for them 
that this was not accepted." The upshot of the 
whole matter was that the Pilgrims finally sailed 
away without having signed the changed "Condi- 
tions." 

During this delay at Southampton two letters 
were received from John Robinson, their pastor at 
Leyden, one to John Carver, his brother-in-law, in 
which he reaffirms his intention of joining them on 
the other side of the Atlantic at the first oppor- 
tunity, and the other to the whole company, in which 
he reminds them first daily to renew their repentance 
with God both for sins known and unknown, since 
"sin being taken away by earnest repentance, and 
pardon thereof from the Lord sealed up unto a man*s 
conscience by his Spirit: great shall be his security 
and peace in all dangers ; sweet, his comforts in all 



188 The Builders of a Nation 

distresses; with happy deliverance from all evil, 
whether in life or in death." 

Next having this heavenly peace with God and 
their own consciences, they are not to give or take 
offence easily', for in his own experience "few or none 
have been found, which sooner give offence, than such 
as easily take it : neither have they ever proved 
sound and profitable members in societies, which have 
nourished in themselves that touchy humor." 

If occasions of offence with our fellow men are 
to be avoided "how much more heed is to be taken 
that we take not offence at God himself; which yet 
we certainly do, so oft as we do murmur at his 
Providence in our crosses, or bear impatiently such 
afflictions wherewith he pleaseth to visit us. Store 
we up therefore patience against the evil day ! with- 
out which, we take offence at the Lord himself in 
his lioly and just works." 

A common care should be exercised for the gen- 
eral good, and all self-seeking avoided as a deadly 
plague. "Let every man repress in himself; and 
the whole body, in each person (as so many rebels 
against the common good), all private respects of 
men's selves ! not sorting with tlie general conveni- 
ency. And as men arc careful not to have a new 
house shaken with any violence before it be well 
settled, and the parts firmly knit: so be you, I be- 
seech you brethren, much more careful that the 



The Voyage of the "Mayflower"' 189 

House of God, which you are and are to be, be not 
shaken with unnecessary novelties or other opposi- 
tions, at the first settling thereof.'* 

Finally in becoming a body politic and setting up 
a civil government, since they were "not furnished 
with any persons of special eminency above the rest" 
to be chosen as rulers, he admonishes them : "let your 
wisdom and godliness appear, not only in choosing 
such persons as do entirely love, and will diligently 
promote, the common good ; but also in yielding unto 
them all due honor and obedience in their lawful 
administrations. Not beholding in them, the or- 
dinariness of their persons ; but God's ordinance for 
your good: nor being like unto the foolish multitude 
who more lionor the gay coat, than either the virtu- 
ous mind of man, or glorious ordinance of the 
Lord." 

"These few things therefore, and the same in few 
words," he concludes, "I do earnestly commend unto 
your care and conscience: joining therewith my daily 
incessant prayers unto the Lord, that he (who hatb 
made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all 
rivers of waters; and whose Providence is over all 
his works, especially over all his dear children for 
good) would so guide and guard you in your ways 
(as inwardly by his spirit; so outwardy by the 
hand of his power) as that both you, and we also 
for and with you, may have after matter of prais- 



190 The Builders of a Nation 

ing his name, all the days of your, and our lives. 
Fare you well in Him! in whom you trust, and in 
whom I rest. 

"An unfeigned well-wisher of your happy success 
in this hopeful voyage, 

"I. R." (John Robinson.) 

This letter "which had good acceptance with all, 
and after fruit with many" was read before them all, 
after which arrangements were made for the voy- 
age, a governor and two or three assistants being 
chosen for each ship "to order the people by the 
way; and see to the disposing of the provisions." 
Ninety passengers were assigned to the Mayflower 
and thirty to the Speedzifell. The names of these 
ships are not mentioned by any of the earlier writers 
who simply allude to them as the "larger" and 
"smaller" vessel. For the names Mayflower and 
Speedwell, we are indebted to a later writer, Nathan- 
iel Morton, who mentions them in his "New England 
Memorial," published in 1669. The name of the 
"larger" vessel, however, has been confirmed by the 
early official records of Plymouth Colony, under 
date of 1623, in one of the headings of allotments 
of land made to the colonists, where the phrase oc- 
curs, "which came over in the Mayflower.^' 

Among the passengers were several who had not 
been members of the congregation at Leyden. Of 
these the "Adventurers" contributed two with their 
families, Christopher Martin from Billerica in Essex, 



The Voycbge of the "Mayflower^* 191 

who with his wife and two servants, Prower and 
Langmore, comprising his entire household, "died in 
the first sickness" at Plymouth, and William Mul- 
lins from Dorking, in Surrey, near London, who 
being a man of some means invested £500 in the ven- 
ture. Two months after reaching Plymouth he 
passed away, while his wife, his son Joseph, and Car- 
ter, his man-servant, were victims of the "first sick- 
ness." Some of the members of the family had 
remained in England, and of those on this side of 
the water, his daughter, Priscilla Mullins, was left 
alone. She was afterwards wedded to John Alden, 
a cooper, who, at the age of twenty-one, entered the 
employ of the Pilgrims at Southampton, for one 
year. He developed into one of the most useful men 
in the colony, being assistant to every governor ex- 
cept Carver, and serving in this capacity not less 
than forty-three years. He was also treasurer of 
the colony thirteen years and served as deputy from 
Duxbury eight times, sometimes holding two posi- 
tions at once. His marriage with Priscilla Mullins 
has been immortalized in Longfellow's "The Court- 
ship of Miles Standish." Stephen Hopkins who 
joined the company at Southampton, also became a 
man of influence in the colony and for a number of 
years was a member of the governor's Council. Myles 
Standish, who afterwards rendered an invaluable 
service to the Pilgrims as their military leader and 
who had been a soldier by profession, seems to have 



192 The Builders of a Nation 

joined the expedition at Southampton. However, 
not all of the English emigrants were a credit to the 
company. One such, and there were others, was 
John Billington, who, less than ten years after the 
landing at Plymouth, was executed for the murder 
of John Newcomen. Bradford says of him: "He 
and some of his had been often punished for miscar- 
riages before, being one of the profanest families 
amongst them. They came from London, and I 
know not by what friends shuffled into their com- 
pany." 

On August 15th the two vessels set sail from 
Southampton but they had not proceeded far when 
Captain Reynolds of the Speedwell complained that 
his ship was leaking, so that he dared not "put fur- 
ther to sea till she was mended." Both vessels there- 
upon put into Dartmouth where "she was thoroughly 
searched from stem to stem." In a letter written 
at Dartmouth Cushman says: "We put in here to 
trim her ; and I think, as others also, if we had stayed 
at sea but three or four hours more, she would have 
sunk right down. And though she was twice 
trimmed at Hampton ; yet now she is as open and 
leaky as a sieve: and there was a board, two feet 
long, a man might have pulled off with his fingers ; 
where the water came in as at a mole hole." 

After some loss of time and considerable expense 
the Mayflower and the Speedwell again put out to 
sea and after sailing a hundred leagues or more be- 



The Voyage of the "Mayflower"" 193 

yond Land's End, Captain Reynolds again an- 
nounced that his vessel was leaking and could scarce 
be kept afloat with much pumping. They accord- 
ingly put back to Plymouth where they were de- 
tained a fortnight. No special leak was found but 
owing to the general weakness of the ship, as was 
supposed, tliey decided to send it back to London 
and proceed with the other ship, twelve of the pas- 
sengers of the Speedwell being crowded into the May- 
flower, while the other eighteen, including Cushman 
and his family, having grown faint-hearted, returned 
on the Speedwell, of which Bradford says : "Those 
that went back were, for the most part, such as were 
willing to do so ; either out of some discontent, or 
fear they conceived of the ill success of the Voyage : 
seeing so many crosses had befallen, and the year 
time so far spent. But others, in regard of their 
own weakness and charge of many young children, 
were thought least useful, and most unfit to bear the 
brunt of this hard adventure: unto which work of 
God and judgment of their brethren, they were con- 
tented to submit. And thus, like Gideon*s army, this 
small number was divided: as if the Lord, by this 
work of his Providence, thought these few too many 
for the great work he had to do." 

It was afterwards discovered that the unsea- 
worthiness of the Speedwell was occasioned by the 
treachery and rascality of Captain Reynolds. 
Bradford says : "Afterwards it was found that the 



194 The Builders of a Nation 

leakiness of this ship was partly caused by being 
overmasted, and too much pressed with sails. For 
after she was sold, and put into her old trim: she 
made many voyages, and performed her sei-vice very 
sufficiently ; to the great profit of her owners. But 
more especially, by the cunning and deceit of the 
Master and his company ; who were hired to stay 
a whole year in the country: and now fancying dis- 
like, and fearing want of \nctuals, they plotted this 
strategem to free themselves ; as afterwards was 
known, and by some of them confessed." 

After being "kindly entertained and courteously 
used by divers friends" at Plymouth, the Mayflower 
again set sail, September 16th, with favoring winds 
"which continued divers days together, and was some 
encouragement to them." Nevertheless many were 
affected with sea-sickness, which is not to be won- 
dered at in view of the conditions under which they 
were travelling. At sea, the weather in Northern 
latitudes is seldom warm, and the only fire on board 
was that used in cooking, which probably was built 
on a flat hearth on deck, so that the only warmth to 
be derived was from increasing the supply of their 
clothing. The passengers were obliged to sleep with 
little comfort in rude bunks or hammocks. The food 
was far from satisfactory, consisting mainly of 
salted meats and hard sea biscuit. When we take 
into consideration that besides the sailors, one hun- 
dred and two passengers, with all of their belong- 



The Voyage of the "Mayfloieer" 195 

ings together with the equipment necessary to the 
establishment of a new connnunity in a new world, 
were crowded into one small vessel it is not strange 
that sea-sickness was prevalent even amongst those 
who had become used to hardships and hard fare. 

An incident happened in connection with the sea- 
sickness which Bradford considered "a special work 
of God's Providence." He says: "There was a 
proud and very profane young man, one of the sea- 
men ; of a lusty able body, which made him the more 
haughty. He would always be contemning the poor 
people in their sickness, and cursing them daily with 
grievous execrations, and did not let to tell them, 
That he hoped to help to cast half of them over- 
board before they came to their journey's end; and 
to make merry with what they had. And if he were 
by any gently reproved, he would curse and swear 
most bitterly. But it please God, before they came 
half seas over, to smite this young man with a griev- 
ous disease; of which he died in a desperate manner 
and so was himself the first that was thrown over- 
board. Thus his curses light on his own head : and 
it was an astonishment to all his fellows ; for they 
noted it to be the just hand of God upon him." * 

The favoring winds continued for a time followed 

* Diirine: the voyage aoross one of the Pilgrim company 
died, viz: William Butten, a ser\\ant of Dr. Fuller. One was 
lx>rn, Oceanus, the son of Stephen Hopkins, making their 
number, on reaching the new world, one hundred and two, 
precisely what it was when they left England. 



196 The Builders of a Nation 

by the equinoctial gales which came upon them with 
terrific force so that "the ship was shrewdly shaken'' 
and her "upper works made very leaky," referring 
to the built-up part of the vessel at the stern, and 
while it made their quarters very uncomfortable it 
was not so serious as the injury to the hull which 
happened later, when one of the main beams amid- 
ships was bowed and cracked, which created "some 
fear that the ship could not be able to perfonii the 
voyage." Observing the "niuttcrings" of the sail- 
ors, some of the principal men among the passengers 
entered into consultation with the captain and the 
ship's officers whether it were not better "to return, 
than to cast themselves into a desperate and inevit- 
able peril." For "their wages' sake," since they 
were now half-way across, the sailors were willing 
to proceed if not obliged "to hazard their lives too 
desperately." The captain assured them that his 
ship was strong and firm under water, and if the 
wrenched beam could only be forced back into place 
all would be well. Providentially, so it seems for this 
juncture, one of the passengers had brought over 
from Holland "a great iron screw," probably a jack- 
screw, by which the beam was raised into its place, 
where it was secured by having a post fitted under 
it, and "otherwise bound." After repairing the beam 
and calking the decks and upper works, the captain 
and the ship's carpenter assured them that there 
would "be no great danger, if they did not overpress 



The Voyage of the "Mayflower" 197 

her with sails. So they committed themselves to 
the will of God and resolved to proceed." 

But storm succeeded storm, and for days together 
"the winds were so fierce and the seas so high" that 
no sail could be spread and the ship was driven be- 
fore the gale under bare poles. Crowded below for 
safety, with their clotliing and bedding drenched 
by the waves which dashed over the vessel, the poor 
passengers suffered no end of discomfort and incon- 
venience. During one of these severe storms, a 
young man, John Rowland, venturing on deck was 
thrown by a lurch of the ship into the sea. But 
says Bradford, "it pleased God that he caught hold 
of the topsail hailyards, which hung overboard and 
ran out at length; yet he held his hold, though he 
was sundry fathoms uiider water, till he was hauled 
up, by the same rope, to the brim of the water; and 
then, with a boathook and other means, got into the 
ship again, and his life saved. And though he was 
something ill with it : yet he lived many years after ; 
and became a profitable member, both in Church and 
Common Wealth." 

On November 20th Cape Cod was sighted. It had 
been the plan of the Pilgrim company "to find some 
place about Hudson's River for their habitation." 
When therefore they learned of their present locality 
"after some deliberation liad amongst themselves and 
with the master of the ship they tacked about and 
resolved to stand for the southward." "But," con- 



198 The Builders of a Nation 

tinues Bradford, "after they had sailed that course 
about half the day, they fell amongst dangerous 
shoals and roaring breakers, and they were so far 
entangled therewith, as they conceived themselves 
in great danger: and the wind shrinking upon them 
withal, they resolved to bear up again for the Cape ; 
and thought themselves happy to get out of those 
dangers before night overtook them, as by God's 
good Providence they did. And the next day, they 
got into the Cape Harbor; where they rid in safety. 
. . . Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and 
brought safe to land; they fell upon their knees and 
blessed the God of heaven : who brought them over 
the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from 
all the perils and miseries thereof; again to set their 
feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper ele- 
ment." 

According to Nathaniel Morton the failure of the 
Pilgrims to reach the Hudson River was the result 
of a plot between the Dutch and Captain Jones, of 
which Morton, in 1669, claimed to "have had late 
and certain intelligence." Of this plot he says: 
"Nevertheless, it is to be observed, that their putting 
into this place, was partly by reason of a storm by 
which they were forced in ; but more especially by 
the fraudulency and contrivance of the aforesaid 
Master Jones. Master of the ship. For their inte'^- 
tion, as is before noted, and his engagement, wt; 
to Hudson's river: but some of the Dutch, hnvin.f? 



The Voyage of the "Mayflower" 199 

notice of their intentions; and having thoughts, 
about the same time, of erecting a Plantation there 
likewise, they fraudulentljjiired the said Jones (by 
delays while they were in England; and now under 
pretence of danger of the shoals, &c.) to disappoint 
them in their going thither." 

It is but fair to state that later investigators have 
questioned the accuracy of Morton*s "late and cer- 
tain intelligence" and contend that the Dutch could 
not have bribed Captain Jones. Be this as it may, 
their arrival in Cape Cod Harbor placed them out- 
side of the jurisdiction of the Virginia Company. 
Necessity therefore was upon them to make pro- 
vision for some form of civil government. This was 
no new idea, for it had been suggested in Robinson's 
pastoral letter written to them while they were at 
Southampton. Possibly it had been discussed, 
among their leaders at least, before they had left 
Leyden. But now circumstances hastened such ac- 
tion. According to Bradford it was "occasioned 
partly by the discontented and mutinous speeches 
that some of the strangers amongsttliem had let J^ 
from them in the ship — That when they came on 
shore they would use their own liberty ; for none had 
power to command them, the patent they had being 
for Virginia, and not for New England, which be- 
longed to another Government, with which the Vir- 
ginia Cojnpany had nothing to do. And partly that 
such an act by them done (this their condition con- 




200 The Builders of a Nation 

sidered) might be as firm as any patent, and in some 
respects more." 

In Cape Cod Harbor in the cabin of the May- 
flower, the immortal Compact, the forerunner of 
constitutional liberty in America was adopted: 

"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names 
are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread 
Sovereign Lord King James ; by the grace of God, 
of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King; De- 
fender of the Faith ; &c. Having undertaken for the 
glory__of God, and advancement of the Christian 
faith, and honor of our King and country, a Voyage 
to plant the first Colony in the northernjparts of 
Virginia ; do, by these presents, solemnly and mu- 
tualh^, in the presence of God and one of another, 
covenant and combine ourselves together into a XjL^il 
Body Politi c, for our better ordering and preserva- 
tion ; and furtherance of the ends aforesaid : and, by 
virtue hereof, to enact, constitute, and frame such 
just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, 
Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most 
meet and convenient for the general_go_od of the 
Colony ; unto which we promise all due submission 
and obedience. In witness whereof, we have hereunto 
subscribed our names. Cape Cod, 11th of Novem- 
ber, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord 
King James, of England, France and Ireland 18; 
and of Scotland 54. Anno Domini 1620." 



The Voyage of the ''Mayflower*' 201 

John Carver John Turner 



William Bradford 
Edward Winslow 
William Brewster 
Isaac Allerton 
Myles Standish 
John Alden 
Samuel Fuller 
Christopher Martin 
William Mullins 
William White 
Richard Warren 
John Howland 
Stephen Hopkins 
Edward Tilley 
John Tilley 
Francis Cook 
Thomas Rogers 
Thomas Tinker 
John Rigdale 
Edward Fuller 



Francis Eaton 
James Chilton 
John Crackston 
Jolin Billington 
Moses Fletcher 
John Goodman 
Degory Priest 
Thomas Williams 
Gilbert Winslow 
Edmund Margeson 
Peter Brown 
Richard Britteridge 
George Soule 
Richard Clarke 
Richard Gardiner 
John Allerton 
Thomas English 
Edward Dotey 
Edward Lister 



i^\ 



The forty-one names appended to this document 
comprised all of the males in the Pilgrim company 
except thirteen minors, nine servants, and two sail- 
ors, who were employed by them temporarily. Brad- 
ford does not give the names of the signers, the list 
being supplied by Nathaniel Morton, who is supposed 



202 The Builders of a Nation 

to have had access to tlie original document or other 
early papers containing the names. After the adop- 
tion of the Compact they elected as their Governor, 
Mr. John Carver, "a man godly and well-approved 
amongst them." 



CHAPTER IX 

THE SETTLEMENT AT PLYMOUTH 

In quaint but touching language Bradford de- 
scribes the situation which confronted the Pilgrims 
on their arrival in the new world : "Being thus 
passed the vast ocean ; and a sea of troubles before, 
in their preparation, as may be remembered by that 
which went before: they had now no friends to wel- 
come them; nor inns to entertain or refresh their 
weather-beaten bodies ; nor houses, or much less 
towns, to repair to, to seek for siiccor. It is re- 
corded in Scripture, as a mercy to the Apostle and 
his shipwrecked company, 'that the Barbarians 
showed us no small kindness' in refreshing them, Acts 
XXVIII (Geneva Version) : but these savage bar- 
barians, when they met with them, as after will 
appear, were readier to fill their sides full of arrows 
than otherwise. As for the season, it was winter: 
and they that know the winters of that country, 
know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to 
cmiel and fierce storms ; dangerous to travel to 
known places, much more to search an unknown 
coast. Besides, what could they see but a hideous 

203 



204) The Builders of a Nation 

and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild 
men ; and what multitudes there might be of them, 
they knew not. Neither could they, as it were, go 
up to the top of Pisgah to view from this wLldeniess, 
a more goodly country to feed their hopes: for which 
way so ever they turned their eyes, save upward to 
the heavens, they could have little solace and content 
in respect of any outward objects. For summer 
being done, all things stand upon them with a 
weather-beaten face; and the whole country full of 
woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage 
hue. If they looked beliind them, there was the 
mighty ocean which they had passed; and was now 
as a main bar and gulf to separate them from all 
the civil parts of the world. . . . What could now 
sustain them, but the Spirit of God, and his grace?" 
With the Mai/ flower safely anchored in Cape Cod 
Harbor, the first question of importance which con- 
fronted these new arrivals was the finding of a suit- 
able location for their settlement. Although the 
harbor was one in wliich a thousand ships might 
easily ride, it was not readily accessible from the 
place of anchorage, because the shore, owing to the 
shallowness of the water, was three-quarters of a 
mile distant. To reach the shore it was necessary 
therefoi*e to wade "a bow-shot or two," which 
caused many to contract coughs and colds from the 
freezing weather. Nevertheless, on the very day of 
their arrival, November 21, 1620, fifteen or sixteen 



The Settlement at Plymouth 205 

well-armed men went ashore, to fetch wood, since 
their supply was nearly exhausted, and also "to see 
what the land was ; and what inhabitants they could 
meet with." The sand-liills reminded them of the 
dunes of Holland, but with a black soil underneath 
of a much better quality. The country round-about 
was covered with forests consisting of trees of oak, 
pine, ash, birch, holly, walnut, juniper, and sassa- 
fras. The members of this scouting- party found 
neither habitation nor inhabitants, and returned at 
evening, having filled their boat with juniper, which 
on account of its fragrant and pungent odor they 
burned most of the time they were anchored in the 
harbor. 

The next day, being Sunday, was observed with 
worship. On Monday they unshipped their shallop, 
a small sail-boat of twelve to fifteen tons, which had 
been stowed away between decks on the Mayfloxcer. 
It was supposed that a few days only would be 
necessary to put this little craft in shape, but owing 
to the fact that it had been cut down for stowing 
below, and that on account of the crowded condi- 
tions on the vessel, it had been used as a sleeping 
place by some of the passengers, sixteen or seven- 
teen days were required to calk it and put it in 
repair. That day, however, the people went ashore 
to refresh themselves and to view the wonders of a 
strange country, while the women carried the soiled 
clothes with them to wash in the fresh water, which 



206 The Builders of a Nation 

was very necessary owing to the length of time which 
had been spent on ship-board. The men tried to 
catch some fish, but were able to secure only a few 
small ones near the shore. They gathered some 
clams, however, but when they attempted to eat 
them, both passengers and sailors were made sick. 
They saw a great number of fowl, and in the waters 
near by, whales could be seen playing, which for the 
want of proper instruments they were unable to take, 
causing much regret, especially in view of the fact 
that the captain and his mate, who were experienced 
in fishing, expressed the opinion that they might 
easily have obtained oil to the value of three or four 
thousands pounds sterling. 

The original plan was to use the shallop in ex- 
ploring the coast and finding a suitable place for 
habitation, but the ship carpenter was able to make 
such slow progress in putting it into shape, that 
several of the men, impatient at the delay, decided to 
make an exploration on land without it. Therefore 
on Wednesday, November 25th, a company of sixteen 
men, equipped and armed with corselet, sword and 
musket, set out under command of Capt. Myles 
Standish, "unto whom were adjoined for counsel and 
advice, William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, and 
Edward Tilley." Proceeding in single file for a mile 
or more they saw half a dozen Indians with a dog. 
When the latter spied the Pilgrims they "ran away 
with might and main." Standish and his men set 



The Settlement at Plymouth 207 

out after them as it was the way which they intended 
to go, and although they traced their foot-prints for 
about ten miles, they were unable to overtake them. 
When night came on they kindled a fire and sta- 
tioned three sentinels who divided the watch by the 
simple expedient of burning the fuses of their match- 
locks, which burned away very slowly, and when six 
inches was consumed others were roused up to take 
their places. 

The next morning they again started in pursuit 
of the Indians' tracks, hoping to find their dwellings. 
They followed the trail around East Harbor, nearly 
to the shore of the ocean and then into a wood with 
underbrush so dense, that it tore their very armor 
(the steel plates of their corselets probably being 
fastened upon leather) in pieces. About 10 o'clock 
they came into a valley where they saw a deer and 
found springs of water, "of which" says the old nar- 
rative, "we were heartily glad, and sat us down and 
drank our first New England water with as much 
delight as ever we drank drink in all our lives." 
Thence turning towards the shore, which was about 
four miles distant from where the Mayflower was 
anchored, they built a great fire, the signal previ- 
ously agreed upon, to let those on board know that 
they were safe. 

Later they came upon a piece of ground where 
maize had been grown and not far away were some 
little mounds of earth, one of which was marked with 



208 The Builders of a Nation 

a wooden bowl and an earthen jar. Opening it they 
found a bow and arroAvs, somewhat decayed, where- 
upon they concluded that it was an Indian grave. 
So they covered it again, for they thought it might 
be odious to the natives to disturb the sepulchres of 
their dead. At length they came to the iniins of a 
house and near by they found a great iron kettle. 
Within a mound, which they opened, there was a 
quantit^^ of shelled com, and in a basket thirty-six 
whole ears, "some yellow, and some red, and others 
mixed with blue; which was a very goodly sight." 
They were undecided what to do with the corn and 
the kettle. Finally they decided to take the kettle 
and as much of the com as they could carry, in- 
tending later, if they could find the owners, to return 
the kettle and compensate them for the loss of their 
com. The rest of the com they buried again. 

They also discovered the Pamet River, near which 
was an old palisade, which they judged must have 
been constructed by Europeans. On the river they 
saw two Indian canoes, one on each side. 

They now retraced their steps, returning to the 
fresh water pond, where they built a fire, and con- 
structed a barricade, stationing sentinels as they had 
done on the preAnous night. It proved to be a rainy 
night, causing them a great deal of discomfort. On 
the following morning, after trimming their muskets 
which had been rendered unser\aceable by the rain, 
they set out on the homeward march. The iron 



The Settlement at Plymouth 209 

kettle, which had become a source of embarrassment 
because of its weight, they sank in the pond. 

On their return they discovered an Indian deer 
trap, a contrivance consisting of a bent sapling with 
a noose of braided rawhide. Stephen Hopkins sur- 
mised its nature, and William Bradford, being the 
last to arrive, was permitted (probably a practical 
joke) to get his leg caught, to the no small amuse- 
ment of the other members of the party, showing 
that these grim Pilgrims were by no means devoid 
of a sense of humor. They also saw three buck, 
which their historian (supposedly Edward Winslow) 
pithily remarks they preferred having to seeing. 
They saw besides several partridges and great flocks 
of wild geese and ducks. 

At length after much tramping, sometimes 
through the tangled thickets, sometimes on the sand, 
and sometimes up to their knees in water, they 
reached their starting place, where, after they had 
shot their muskets, the long boat came to take them 
back to the ship, to which they brought the com 
which they had taken, and "so," says Bradford, 
'*like the men from Eschol carried with them the 
fruits of the land, and showed their brethren; of 
which, and their return, they were marvellously glad, 
and their hearts encouraged." 

At last the shallop being repaired, on Monday, 
December 7th, a second expedition set out for a 
further exploration of the country. This time the 



210 The Builders of a Nation 

party consisted of twenty-four amied men of the Pil- 
grims, and ten sailors, including Captain Jones of 
the Mayflower, who havmg volunteered to accom- 
pany them, was asked to take command. Owing to 
the roughness of the weather the shallop was able to 
make but little headway and so they were constrained, 
some in the shallop and some in the long boat, to row 
to the nearest point on shore, which they finally 
reached by wading up to their knees in the icy 
waters. "It blowed and did snow all that day and 
night; and froze withal." It was thought that some 
who afterwards died "took the original of their death 
there." After reaching shore they plodded on 
through the snow drifts for some miles and camped 
out that freezing night to await the shallop. 

The following morning, tlie storm liaving abated, 
at 11 o'clock the boat arrived which sailed along 
the coast from East Harbor to the mouth of the 
Pamet River. They marched up the river followed 
by the shallop for four or five miles. The Pilgrims 
were in favor of going farther but Captain Jones, 
"wearied with the marching, was desirous we should 
take up our lodging." "So," says one of the pai-ty, 
"we made there our rendezvous for the night, under 
a few pine trees : and, as it fell out, we got three fat 
geese and six ducks to our supper; which we ate 
with soldiers' stomachs, for we had eaten little all 
that day." 

The next morning, leaving the larger branch of 



The Settlement at PlymmUh 211 

the Pamet River, which the}' had been following, 
they inarched northward to the smaller branch in 
search of more corn, since it was in that neighbor- 
hood that they had found the first on their previous 
expedition. They secured what they had left behind 
and discovered other pits from which they unearthed 
about ten bushels, which they regarded as a token 
of "God's good ProAndcnce" since it provided an 
ample supply for seeding the next Spring. It was 
the intention of the Pilgrims, according to Brad- 
ford, to give the Indians "full satisfaction when they 
should meet with any of them, as about six months 
afterward they did to their good content." By 
this time Captain Jones had wearied of the expedi- 
tion and taking the "weakest people, and some that 
were sick, and all of the corn" returned homewards, 
leaving eighteen of the Pilgrims "to make further 
discovery." 

That night was spent in the vicinity, but the next 
morning they proceeded five or six miles further, 
coming to another mound covered with boards and 
larger than any they had yet found. On opening it, 
says the narrator, "we found first a mat, and under 
that a fair bow ; and therej another mat ; and under 
that, a board about three-quarters long finely carved 
and painted, with three tynes or broaches on the 
top like a cro\ATi. Also between the mats, we found 
bowls, trays, dishes, and such like trinkets. At 
length, we came to a fair new mat: and under that, 



212 The Builders of a Nation 

two bundles ; the one bigger, the other less. We 
opened the greater, and found in it, a great quan- 
tity of fine and perfect red powder; and in it, the 
bones and skull of a man. The skull had fine yellow 
hair still on it; and some of the flesh unconsumed. 
There were bound up with it, a knife, a pack-needle, 
and two or three old iron tilings. It was bound up 
in a sailor's canvass cassock, and a pair of cloth 
breeches. The red powder was a kind of embalm- 
ment; and yielded a strong, but no offensive, smell. 
It was as fine as any flour. We opened the less bundle 
likewise ; and found of the same powder in it, and 
the bones and head of a little child. About the legs 
and other parts of it were bound strings and brace- 
lets of fine white beads. There was also by it a little 
bow, about three-quarters long; and some other odd 
knacks." It is supposed that the body with the "fine 
yellow hair" was the remains of a sailor who had 
fallen into the hands of the natives, a French vessel 
having been wrecked on the shores of Cape Cod some 
years before. 

During that day, they saw for the first time some 
Indian "houses'* (wigwams or tepees) which were 
described as follows : "The houses were made with 
long young sapling trees, bended and both ends 
stuck in the ground. They were made round like 
an arbor, and covered down to the ground with thick 
and well wrought mats ; and the door was not over 
a yard high, made of a mat to open. The chimney 



The Settlement at Plymouth 213 

was a wide open hole in the top : for which they had 
a mat, to cover it close when they pleased. One 
might stand and go upright in them. In the midst 
of them were four little trunches knocked into the 
ground; and small sticks laid over, on which they 
hung their pots and what they had to seethe. Round 
about the fire, they lay on mats; which are their 
beds. The houses were double matted: for as they 
were matted without; so were they within, with 
newer and fairer mats. In the houses, we found 
wooden bowls, trays, and dishes ; earthen pots ; hand 
baskets made of crab shells wrought together: also 
an English pail or bucket; it wanted a bail, but it 
had two iron ears. There were also baskets of sun- 
dry sorts (bigger and some lesser; finer and some 
coarser. Some were curiously wrought with black 
and white, in pretty works) ; and sundry other of 
their household stuff. We found also two or three 
deer's heads : one whereof had been newly killed, for 
it was still fresh. There was also a company of 
deer's feet stuck up in the houses. Harts' horns, 
and eagles' claws, and sundry like things, there were. 
Also two or three baskets full of parched acorns, 
pieces of fish, and a piece of broiled herring. We 
also found a little silk grass, and a little tobacco 
seed ; with some other seeds which we knew not. 
Without, were sundry bundles of flags, and sedge 
bulrushes, and other stuff, to make mats. There was 
thrust into a hollow tree, two or three pieces of veni- 



214 The Builders of a Nation 

son; but we thought it fitter for the dogs than for 
us. Some of the best tilings, we took away with us ; 
and left the houses standing still as they were." 

Night now coming on, they hastened back to the 
shallop and returned to the Mayflower, having made 
many interesting discoveries, but finding as yet no 
suitable location for their community. During their 
absence. Peregrine White, the first child in New Eng- 
land of European parentage, was born on board the 
Mayflower. Francis Billington, the small son of 
John Billington of unsavory reputation, had gotten 
hold of some gunpowder, firing off a musket or two, 
and making some "squibs." He also discharged a 
fowling piece in his father's cabin, where a keg of 
gunpowder was stored, but fortunately no damage 
was done. 

The return of this second exploring party was 
followed by a spirited discussion on the part of the 
Pilgrims as to the selection of their site. Captain 
Jones urged haste as he was anxious to return to 
England. Some were in favor of settling where they 
were. Robert Coppin, their pilot, told of "a great 
navigable river and good harbor in the other head- 
land of the Bay, almost right over against Cape 
Cod, being, a right line, not much above eight leagues 
distant ; in which he had been once : and because that 
one of the wild men, witli whom they had some truck- 
ing, stole a hai*ping iron from them, they called it 
Thievish Harbor." Finally it was decided to make 



The Settlement at Plymouth 215 

a third and last attempt to find a location suitable 
for settlement. 

Ten men were selected for this expedition — Capt. 
Standish, Gov. Carver, Bradford, Winslow, John 
Tilley, Edward Tilley, Howland, Warren, Hopkins, 
and Dotey, besides the captain's mates, Clarke and 
Coppin, with five sailors, including two in the em- 
ploy of the Pilgrims, John Allerton and Thomas 
English. On Wednesday, December 16th, they em- 
barked, the weather being as Bradford says, "very 
cold, and it froze so hard as that the spray of the 
sea lighting on their coats, they were as if they had 
been glazed." Skirting along the coast on the inner 
side of the cape, they sailed southward past the 
mouth of the Pamet River and came to Wellfleet 
Bay. Then they directed their course eastward to- 
ward the shore, where they saw ten or twelve Indians 
busy cutting into strips some "black thing." Sail- 
ing past they landed on the coast some four or five 
miles away at what is now Eastham, where they 
encamped for the night, building a fire, constructing 
a barricade, and stationing sentinels. 

The following day in two parties they explored 
the bay, finding two grampuses which had been 
washed ashore by the storm. Going to the place 
where they had seen the Indians on the previous 
day, they found some pieces of a grampus from 
which they learned that this was the "black thing" 
which they had been cutting. They found an In- 



216 The Builders of a Nation 

dian bui-ying ground, some corn-fields, and a deserted 
settlement but saw no people. Returning to the 
shore they hailed the shallop but it could not ap- 
proach until the tide had risen, so they made a camp 
as on the former night. At midnight they heard "'a 
great hideous cry" and the sentinels shouted "'Arm! 
Arm!" ISvo muskets were fired and the noise 
ceased. 

The next morning at daybreak the}' carried their 
arms down to the shore in readiness for the shallop 
and returned for breakfast. While they were eating 
the strange noise which had alarmed the sentinels 
was again heard and one of the party came running 
with the cry : "Men ! Indians ! Indians !" A shower 
of arrows followed. Fortunately some of the men 
had prudently retained their muskets, so when the 
rest rushed to the shore to recover their arms, Cap- 
tain Standish fired a shot from his "snaphance" or 
flintlock, and after him another did likewise. Two 
others were about to fire when tlie captain com- 
manded them not to shoot until they had taken care- 
ful aim. "The cry of the Indians," says Bradford, 
"was dreadful, especially when they saw their men 
run out of the rendezvous towards the shallop to 
recover their arms." According to Mourt's "Re- 
lation," "their note was after this manner : 'Woath ! 
Woach ! Ha ! Ha ! Hach ! Woach !' " The Pilgrims 
valiantly stood their ground after they had recov- 
ered their arais and quickly routed their enemies. 



The Settlement at Plymouth 217 

Says Bradford: "There was a lusty man, and no less 
valiant, stood beliind a tree within half a musket 
shot, and let his arrows fly at them. He was seen 
shoot three arrows, which were all avoided. He 
stood three shot of a musket, till one taking full 
aim at him, and made the bark or splinters of the 
tree fly about his ears, after which he gave an ex- 
traordinary shriek, and away they went all of them." 
After the flight of the Indians, Standish and his 
men picked up eighteen arrows tipped with brass, 
buckhom, and eagles' claws. As it was not easy to 
find these arrows among the dried leaves under the 
snow doubtless many more were shot. Providen- 
tially, so these Pilgrims thought, none of them were 
hit, although some of the coats which they had hung 
up in the barricade were "shot through and 
through." 

Sailing westward after this encounter, they met 
with violent storms, so that in the middle of the 
afternoon the wind having increased and the sea 
being very rough, the hinges of their rudder broke, 
requiring two men to steer as best they could with 
a couple of oars. To add to their troubles, the vio- 
lence of the storm increasing and night coming on, 
every inch of canvas that the boat could carry was 
spread, when the mast broke "in three pieces and 
their sail fell overboard." The tide was in their 
favor, however, and bore them into the harbor. 
That night they anchored near Clark's island in 



218 The Builders of a Nation 

Duxbury Bay, keeping watch in the rain and landing 
the next morning. "But," saj's Bradford, "though 
this had been a da}^ and night of much trouble and 
danger unto them, 3^et God gave them a morning of 
comfort and refreshing (as usually he doth to his 
children), for the next day was a fair siinshining 
day, and they found themselves to be on an island 
secure from the Indians, where they might dry their 
stuff, fix their pieces, and rest themselves, and gave 
God thanks for his mercies, in their manifold deliv- 
erances. And this being the last day of the week, 
they prepared there to keep the Sabbath." In 
Mourt's ^'Relation" it is recorded "On the Sabbath 
Day we rested," a simple yet eloquent testimony to 
the reverance of the Pilgrims for God's holy day. 

On Monday, December 21st, they entered Ply- 
mouth Harbor (the Thievish Harbor of Coppin), 
which they sounded "and found it fit for shipping; 
and marched into the land, and found divers corn- 
fields, and little running brooks, a place (as they 
supposed) fit for situation; at least it was the best 
they could find, and the season, and their present 
necessity, made them glad to acept of it." 

Whether the party which now went ashore landed 
on Plymouth Rock, or whether it was the larger 
part)' from the May^ower on December 26th, is un- 
certain ; possibly both landings were made on the 
historic rock, which in 1775 was broken into two 
pieces in an attempt to remove it to the town square. 



The Settlement at Plymouth 219 

where a large fragment was deposited at the foot 
of a liberty pole. In 1834< it was placed in front 
of Pilgrim Hall and an iron railing built around 
it. Forty-six years later it was reunited with the 
larger fragment near the wharf, and a granite can- 
opy resting on four pillars placed above it, where 
it symbolizes the solid foundations upon which the 
Pilgrims builded, and is an object of interest to all 
present-day visitors at Plymouth. 

This last exploring party returned four days later 
to the main company and reported their discoveries. 
It was a sad home-coming to William Bradford, 
who learned that on the day of their departure his 
wife, Dorothy May, had fallen overboard and was 
drowned. As quickly as possible their vessel was 
gotten in readiness for the brief voyage, but owing 
to contrary winds they were unable to reach the 
place until Saturday, December 26th, when the May- 
ftower peacefully furled her sails in Plymouth Har- 
bor. 

On Monday they went ashore with the shallop to 
explore the region, finding timber in abundance, a 
great variety of herbs, sand, gravel, clay suit- 
able for pottery, a great quantity of stone "and 
the best water that ever they drank." The next 
two days were spent in further exploration, and 
after due deliberation, being greatly influenced by 
the great hill which overlooked the harbor, first 
called Fort Hill, but afterwards, Burial Hill, where 



220 The Builders of a Nation 

they could plant their ordnance, they decided in 
favor of Plymouth as the permanent site for their 
community. 

Some of the company remained on shore that 
night, but a severe storm prevented work and cut 
off all conununication between ship and shore until 
Saturday, January 2d, when as many as possible 
went ashore and "felled and carried timber to pro- 
vide themselves stuff for building." Monday was 
Christmas (Old Style), but according to theii 
chronicle on that day "no man rested." The firsi 
necessity was the erection of houses for their ac- 
conmiodation, and in order to put up as few dwellings 
as possible, they assigned the unmarried men to the 
different families, thereby reducing the number oi 
houses to be built to nineteen, including "the com- 
mon house, in which,'* says Bradford, "for the firsi 
we made our Rendezvous." This building, twent} 
feet square, was intended for general use until tlie 
others could be erected and then it was to serve as 
a common meeting place. Within four days, th( 
timber work of this building was completed and the 
roof half thatched, when as a protection against pos- 
sible attacks by the Indians it was thought best tc 
construct a platform on the hill where their cannor 
could be planted. 

On a highway running parallel with the Towr 
Brook, known since 1823 as Leyden Street, lots wert 
assigned to the different families, three rods ir 



The Settlement at Plymouth 221 

length and half a rod in width being allotted each 
person. "We thought," says their liistorian, "this 
proportion was large enough, at first, for houses and 
gardens, to impale them around; considering the 
weakness of our people: many of them growing ill 
with colds for our former Discoveries in frost and 
storms ; and the wading at Cape Cod had brought 
much weakness amongst us, which increased every 
day, more and more; and after was the cause of 
, many of their deaths." On January 19th, the "com- 
I mon house" being nearly finished, work was com- 
menced on these family dwellings, which were rudely 
constructed of logs thatched with sea grass, the 
chimneys being of sticks or stone plastered with clay, 
' and having windows of oiled paper, with rough shut- 
I ters and doors. Rude as these houses were they 
I went up slowly, for we are told "Frost and foul 
weather hindered us much. This time of the year 
j seldom could we work half the week.'* 
( While these houses were in process of erection, 
I but little exploring was done, and from fear of the 
! Indians the colonists did not venture far from the 
I settlement. On one occasion, however, when John 
I Goodman and Peter Browne were cutting thatch 
j they started in pursuit of a deer which they had 
I seen. Without being able to overtake it they suc- 
ceeded in losing themselves and were unable to find 
I their way back. They spent the bitter cold night 
j at the foot of a tree without food and having no 



222 The Builders of a Nation 

weapons but the sickles which they held in their 
hands. They were much alarmed by "two lions 
(probably wolves) roaring exceedingly." It was 
late the next afternoon before they found their way 
back to the settlement. 

Twice the thatch on their "common house" was 
burned, having caught fire from the sparks which 
fell from the chimney. On one of these occasions 
Carver and Bradford, who were within confined to 
their beds by illness, narrowly escaped being blown 
up, as a number of loaded muskets and apparently a 
quantity of gunpowder were stored there, but for- 
tunately only the thatch burned, leaving the tim- 
bers unharmed, so that the injury was soon re- 
paired. 

On January 30th, a shed to shelter their provi- 
sions was completed, and the next day being Sunday, 
it was decided that the whole company should come 
ashore and for the first time conduct their services 
of worship in the "common house." It is a note- 
worthy fact that from that day to this, in the toAvn 
of Plymouth there has been no cessation in the regu- 
lar services of the Sabbath day, a splendid tribute 
not only to the New England Sabbath, but to the 
persistence of the lofty principles, which animated 
the Pilgrim Fathers. 

During these early months the mortality among 
the settlers was something appalling. The close and 
unhealthy crowding on board the Mayflower, the 



Th^ Settlement at Plymouth 223 

exposure and severity of the winter, together with 
the labor and hard fare incident to their enterprise 
from its very inception, combined to exact from 
them a toll of death that was staggering in its 
proportions. Bradford described the situation as 
follows: "But that which was most sad and lament- 
able was, that in two or three months time half of 
their company died, especially in January and 
February, being the depth of winter, and wanting 
houses and other comforts ; being infected with the 
scurvy and other diseases, which this long voyage 
and their inaccommodate condition had brought 
upon them ; so as there died some times two or three 
of a day, in the foresaid time; that of one hundred 
and odd persons, scarce fifty remained." 

The dead were buried at night, probably on Cole's 
Hill which was nearer the landing, the very graves 
being levelled and smoothed over so that the Indians 
might not discover how few and weak the settlers 
were becoming. So greatly was their strength re- 
duced that, says Bradford, "in the time of most 
distress, there was but six or seven sound persons, 
who, to their great commendations be it spoken, 
spared no pains, night nor day, but with abundance 
of toil and hazard of their own health, fetched them 
wood, made them fires, dressed them meat, made their 
beds, washed their loathsome clothes, clothed and un- 
clothed them; in a word, did all the homely and 
necessary offices for them which dainty and queasy 



224 The Builders of a Nation 

stomachs cannot endure to hear named; and all this 
willingly and cheerfully, without any grudging in 
the least, showing herein their true love unto their 
friends and brethren. A rare example and worthy 
to be remembered. Two of these seven were Mr. 
William Brewster, their reverend Elder, and Myles 
Standish, their Captain and military commander, 
unto whom myself and many others, were much 
beholden in our low and sick condition. And yet the 
Lord so upheld these persons, as in this general 
calamity they were not at all infected either with 
sickness, or lameness." 

This time of trial and tribulation, when their 
faith, no doubt, was tested to the uttermost, was 
succeeded by the dawning of better days : "The 
spring now approaching, it pleased God the mor- 
tality began to cease amongst them, and the sick 
and lame recovered apace, which put as it were new 
life into them, though they had borne their sad 
affliction with much patience and contentedness, as 
I think any people could do. But it was the Lord 
which upheld them, and had beforehand prepared 
them ; many having long borne the yoke, yea from 
their youth." 



CHAPTER X 

RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS 

Although the Pilgrims, as has already been stated, 
in leaving Holland had been animated by "a great 
hope and inward zeal — of laying some good founda- 
tion, or at least to make some way thereunto, for 
the propagating and advancing the Gospel of the 
Kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the 
world," nevertheless on their arrival they discovered 
that the natives were "readier to fill their sides full 
of arrows than otherwise." Notwithstanding the 
absence of any intent on their part to injure or 
wrong the Indians, the latter had made an unpro- 
voked attack upon them when they were exploring 
the region about Wellfleet Bay. After that experi- 
ence the Pilgrims lived in constant dread of an 
attack by the natives. 

During the first weeks at Plymouth, the Indians 
manifested no disposition to molest them. One day, 
however, one of the Pilgrims while hunting saw a 
dozen Indians apparently making their way towards 
the settlement. Hastening homewards with the infor- 
mation, a guard was hurriedly called by Myles 

225 



226 The Builders of a Nation 

Standish, but the Indians did not appear, although 
Standish and one of the other settlers missed some 
tools which they had left in the woods when the 
alarm had been given. It was deemed best, therefore, 
to organize themselves for defence, and on Saturday, 
Feb, 27, a meeting was called for the purpose, Myles 
Standish being elected captain of the guard that was 
formed. While their meeting was in progress two 
Indians appeared on the hill just south of the settle- 
ment, afterwards known as Weston's Hill, across the 
brook a quarter of a mile awaj', signalling the white 
men to come to them. Standish and Hopkins were 
sent to parley with them. They had a musket, which, 
as they approached, was laid on the ground as a 
token of peace, but the Indians retreated, and "a 
noise of a great many more was heard behind the 
hill ; but no more came in sight." 

The Pilgrims had brought with them on the May- 
flower five cannon, which in comparison with modem 
artillery would seem almost like toys, but which were 
an invaluable means of defence against the Indians 
or other enemies. Only one of these had been 
mounted, but on the following Wednesday the rest 
were brought to shore, and with the assistance of 
Captain Jones and his sailors dragged up on the 
high hill commanding the settlement, and so planted 
as to ward off an attack on the part of the natives. 

On March 26th a second meeting was called to 
perfect their military organization, since the former 



Relations with the Indicms 227 

meeting had been interrupted by the appearance of 
the Indians, This meeting had hardly been called 
to order, when a solitary Indian clothed with noth- 
ing but a fringe about his loins came walking down 
the street past their houses and right into their 
assembly, saluting them in English and saying, 
"Welcome ! Welcome !'* He informed them that his 
name was Samoset, and that he was a sagamore or 
chief from Monhegan, a place to the north, distant a 
day's sail or five days' journey by land. He had 
learned his broken English from fishing crews which 
frequented there. 

From Samoset the Pilgrims learned that the place 
where they had settled was called by the Indians 
Patuxet or "Little Bay," all of the former inhabi- 
tants of which had been swept away by a plague 
which had visited that region, four years previously, 
leaving no one to dispute their title to the place. 
They also learned that their nearest neighbors were 
the subjects of a sachem or king named Massasoit, 
and that to the southeast on the Cape was another 
tribe, the Nausets, seven of whom with a score of the 
Patuxets, Captain Hunt, "under color of trucking" 
had carried away and sold into slavery. This made 
the Nausets very angry with the English and eight 
months previously they had slain three members of 
Captain Dermer's crew. These were the Indians 
who had attacked the Pilgrims on Cape Cod. 

Samoset was told about the tools which had dis- 



228 The Builders of a Nation 

appeared the month previously, and was given a 
message to the Indians demanding their return. As 
evening drew on, the Pilgrims were quite willing that 
their visitor should depart, but as he seemed to mani- 
fest no disposition to do so he was lodged for the 
night in Stephen Hopkins' house, with a watch to see 
that he had no evil intentions. The next morning 
having been given a knife, a bracelet, and a ring, 
he departed, promising to return in a day or two 
with some of Massasoit's men, their nearest neigh- 
bors, "with such beavers' skins as they had" to 
traffic Avith them. 

The next day, which was Sunday, Samoset, true 
to his word, returned bringing five others, who were 
better dressed, having on breach-clouts, long leggins 
and deer-skin coats. They left their weapons at a 
distance from the settlement and returned the stolen 
tools. They sang and danced for the English, and 
having brought three or four beavers' skins wished 
to traffic, but on account of the day the Pilgrims 
refused, requesting them to return with a better 
supply when they "would truck for all." Having 
been hospitably entertained and each having been 
given some trifles, they were dismissed, except Samo- 
set, who "either was sick, or feigned himself so," and 
remained until Wednesday. 

On the following day Samoset returned with four 
others, one of whom was Tisquantum, or Squanto, 
as he came to be called, who was the only survivor 



Relations with the Indians 229 

of the tribe of Patuxets, which had once occupied 
the region about Plymouth. He was among the 
Indians who had been kidnapped by Captain Hunt 
in 1614 to be sold into slavery in Spain. Somehow he 
managed to escape, and making his way to London, 
he was employed by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and 
afterwards by a merchant who was treasurer of the 
Newfoundland Company. After having spent more 
than three years in London, where he had become 
more familiar with the streets of the city than were 
many of the Pilgrims, he was brought back to 
Plymouth by Captain Dermer, nearly a year before, 
only to find that the tribe to which he belonged had 
been completely wiped out of existence by the 
plague. 

Samoset and Squanto announced that "their 
Sagamore Massasoit war> hard by, with Quadequina 
his brother, and all their men." The approach of 
Massasoit was awaited with interest, as he was the 
chief of their nearest neighbors and everything 
depended upon him as to whether these Indians 
should be friends or foes. In about an hour he 
appeared on the hill south of the settlement with 
about sixty warriors. The question now arose which 
party should trust the other, Squanto acting as 
their interpreter. Finally Edward Winslow was sent 
to say that the Pilgrims wished to be at peace with 
the Indians and to trade with them. He took with 
him two knives and "a copper chain with a jewel to 



230 The Builders of a Nation 

it" as a present to Massasoit, and to Quadequina, a 
knife and "a jewel to hang in his ear." He also 
presented them with a quantity of biscuits, some 
butter and "a pot of strong water" (liquor). After 
partaking of the food and drink Massasoit mani- 
fested great interest in Winslow's sword and armor 
which he wished to buy. But the latter refusing to 
part with them, assured him that his sovereign, King 
James, saluted him with peace and good will, accept- 
ing him as his friend and ally. He also informed the 
king that Governor Carver wished to see him, "to 
truck with him, and to confirm a peace with him, as 
his next neighbor." 

Being satisfied with this interview Massasoit, leav- 
ing Winslow in the custody of his brother as a 
hostage, crossed over the brook with twenty unarmed 
warriors. He was met on the other side by Captain 
Standish with a half dozen musketeers and after 
salutations was escorted to an unfinished house, 
where a green rug and three or four cushions had 
been placed. Governor Cai-ver immediately appeared, 
accompanied by a drummer, a trumpeter, and "some 
few musketeers." Having kissed the hand of the 
chief and being kissed in return, the Governor called 
for some "strong water" of which Massasoit "drank 
a great draught that made him sweat all the while 
after." 

In jMourt's "Relation^^ Massasoit and his men 
were described as follov/s : "In his person, he is a 



Relations with the Indians 231 

very lusty man, in his best years, an able body, 
grave of countenance, and spare of speech. In his 
attire, little or nothing differing from the rest of his 
followers: only in a great chain of white bone beads 
about his neck ; and at it, behind his neck, hangs a 
little bag of tobacco, which he drank (smoked) and 
gave us to drink. His face was painted with a sad 
red like murrey; and oiled both head and face, that 
he looked greasily. All his followers likewise were in 
their faces, in part, or in whole, painted: some black, 
some red, some yellow, and some white; some with 
crosses, and other antic works. Some had skins on 
them, and some naked: all strong, tall, all men in 
appearance." 

After tlie exchange of courtesies, they proceeded 
to enter into a treaty of peace with the following 
stipulations : 

"1. That neither he, nor any of his, should injure, 
or do hurt, to any of our people. 

"2. And if any of his did hurt to any of ours; 
he should send the offender, that we might punish 
him. 

"3. That if any of our tools were taken away, 
when our people were at work ; he should cause them 
to be restored: and if ours did any harm to any of 
his, we would do the like to them. 

"4. If any did unjustly war against him; we 
would aid him. If any did war against us, he should 
aid us. 



232 The Builders of a Nation 

"5. He should send to his neighbor confederates, 
to certify them of this, that they might not wrong 
us; but might be likewise comprised in the Condi- 
tions of Peace. 

"6. That when their men came to us, they should 
leave their bows and arrows behind them; as we 
should do our pieces, when we came to them. 

"7. Lastly, that doing thus, King James would 
esteem of him as his friend and ally." 

This treaty, which remained in force more than 
half a century, having been concluded, Massasoit 
was conducted to the brook by the Governor, six or 
seven hostages being left behind. Soon after Quade- 
quina appeared with a retinue and was treated with 
a like hospitality, after which the hostages on both 
sides were returned. That night the Indians "and all 
their wives and women with them" camped in the 
woods a half mile away. The Pilgrims prudently kept 
watch "but there was no appearance of danger." 

The foUoNving morning several of the Indians came 
again "hoping to get some victuals" as the Pilgrims 
conjectured. Captain Standish and Isaac AUerton 
visited their camp, and were welcomed by the Indians 
"after their manner" being given "three or four 
ground-nuts and some tobacco." Finally after Gov- 
ernor Carver had sent for the "King's kettle" and 
filled it with peas, they took their departure. Samo- 
set and Squanto, however, remained behind, the 
latter catching a quantity of eels for the settlers. 



Relations with the Indians 233 

and showing them how they might be caught by 
treading in the mud of the stream and then taking 
them with his hands. 

That day they resumed the business from which 
they had been hindered on previous occasions by 
the coming of the natives and "concluded both of 
Military Orders, and of some Laws and Orders: as 
we thought bchoveful for our present estate and con- 
dition." They likewise re-elected John Carver, for 
governor, "a man well approved among us." 

On the 15th of April, after having been detained 
for various reasons, viz. : the rearing of homes, the 
fear of the savages, the mortality among the settlers, 
followed by a like mortality among the sailors so 
that Captain Jones returned with no more than half 
of his crew, the Mai/flower finally weighed anchor for 
the return voyage. With tear-dimmed eyes, and fast- 
beating hearts, the settlers must have watched the 
departure of the little vessel, the last connecting link 
between them and the old world, until it had dis- 
appeared from sight. Although half of their number 
had perished, not one of the Pilgrim company re- 
turned on the Mayflower. It is interesting to note 
that this vessel in 1629 made a second voyage to the 
new world, with another company of emigrants for 
Plymouth Colony. 

The corn planting season was now upon them, and 
in this tliey received valuable assistance from 
Squanto, their Indian ally, who, says Bradford, 



234 The Builders of a Nation 

"Stood them in great stead, showing them both the 
manner how to set, and after how to dress and tend 
it. Also he told them except they got fish and set 
with it (in those old grounds) it would come to 
nothing, and he showed them that in the middle of 
April they should have store enough come up the 
brook, by which they began to build, and taught 
them how to take it, and where to get other pro- 
visions necessary for them ; all which they found true 
by trial and experience." 

Twenty acres were planted to Indian corn and 
six acres to barley and peas. While this seems like 
a very small acreage, it must be remembered that the 
Pilgrims, having no domestic animals, were obliged 
to work their ground in the most laborious manner, 
entirely by hand labor. This arduous toil proved 
too much for one of their number. Governor Carver, 
who being greatly debilitated by the cares and toils 
of the preceding winter, came out of the field, where 
he had been planting, "it being a hot day" and com- 
plaining "greatly of his head" took to his bed, soon 
passing into a delirium, "so as he never spake more 
till he died which was within a few days after." His 
death caused "great heaviness amongst them" but 
they laid him away "in the best manner they could, 
with some volleys of shot by all that bore arms." 
His wife "being overcome with excessive grief" for 
the loss of her husband "died within five or six 
weeks after him." William Bradford was thereupon 



Relatione with the Indians 235 

chosen governor to succeed Carver, with Isaac AUer- 
ton as assistant. 

On May 22nd, an incident occurred of unusual 
interest, when Edward Winslow, whose wife, Ehza- 
beth, had died March 24)th, was wedded to Susannah 
White, whose husband, William, had passed away 
February 21st. Doubtless the peculiar conditions 
incident to a pioneer community hastened this mar- 
riage, which was performed with a civil ceremony, 
probably by Governor Bradford, as the Pilgrims in 
common with the Puritans opposed a religious cere- 
mony at weddings or funerals. Of this wedding 
Bradford wrote: "May 12 (May 22 New Style) 
was the first marriage in this place, which according 
to the laudable custom of the Low-Countries, in 
which they had lived, was thought most requisite to 
be performed by the magistrate, as being a civil 
thing, upon which many questions about inheritance 
do depend, with other things most proper to their 
cognizance, and most consonant ^vith the scriptures, 
Ruth 4, and no where in the gospel to be laid on the 
ministers as a part of their office. 'This decree or 
law about marriage was published by the States of 
the Low-Countries Anno 1590. That those of any 
religion, after lawful and open publication, coming 
before the magistrates, in the Town or State-house, 
were to be orderly (by them) married one to an- 
other' Petcts Hist, fol: 1029. And this practice 
hath continued amongst, not only tliem, but hath 



236 The Builders of a Nation 

been followed by all the famous churches of Christ 
in these parts to this time, — Anno: 1646." 

In June or July an embassy, consisting of Edward 
Winslow and Stephen Hopkins, with Squanto as a 
guide, was sent to their new friend Massasoit "to 
bestow upon him some gratuity to bind him the 
faster unto them; as also that hereby they might 
view the country, and see in what manner he lived, 
what strength he had about him, and how the ways 
were to his place, if at any time they should have 
occasion." Travelling fifteen miles they came to 
Namasket, where the Indians received them kindly 
and fed them on "a kind of bread" called "maizum" 
which was made of Indian corn, and shad-roe eaten 
with wooden spoons. They travelled eight miles 
further on, where a number of Indians had collected 
to fish for bass. There they spent the night in the 
open air as the Indians had erected no shelter. The 
next moraing they continued their journey, six 
Indians accompanying them, carrying their arms 
and clothing, and bearing them upon their backs 
across the fords. In the country through which 
they passed they saw few natives, the country having 
been greatly wasted by the plague four years before, 
and in many places bones and skulls were lying above 
the ground where houses and dwellings had been. 

Late that afternoon they arrived in Pokanoket, 
the sachem's village, but ^Massasoit was absent, and 
had to be sent for. On his arrival he was saluted 



Relations with the India/ns 237 

with a volley from their muskets. He welcomed them 
and took them into his house where the ambassadors 
requested the continuance of peace and friendship, 
but stated that it would be impossible for them to 
freely entertain crowds of Indians owing to the 
shortage of their food supply. They placed in his 
hands a copper chain with a medal attached, which 
tlie governor had sent with the request that if any 
messenger were sent he should bring this chain with 
him as a token of his authority. They also presented 
the chief with a bright red horseman's coat and 
offered to pay for the com which they had taken 
the winter before. Last of all an exchange of seed 
for corn was requested. 

Massasoit was delighted with the presents and 
putting the coat on his back, with the chain around 
his neck, elicited the admiration of his subjects. He 
promised a continuance of peace and friendship, 
stated that his men "should no more pester" them as 
they had done and agreed to help with com for seed. 
It grew late but he offered them no supper, as indeed 
he had none, and finally Winslow and Hopkins pro- 
posed that they go to rest, but the sleeping arrange- 
ments were far from satisfactory, for according to 
their account, "He laid us on the bed with himself 
and his wife; they at one end, and we at the other: 
it being only planks laid a foot from the ground, and 
a thin mat upon them. Two more of his chief men, 
for want of room pressed by and upon us : so that 



238 The Builders of a Nation 

we were worse weary of our lodging, than of our 
journey." 

The next day several of the sachems came to see 
them. The Indians spent tlie forenoon gambling for 
skins and knives. The Pilgrim envoys challenged 
the natives to shoot with them for skins and 
when this was declined they shot at a mark with 
"hail shot" which astonished the Indians "to 
see the mark so full of holes." About one o'clock 
jNIassasoit brought two fish which he had shot, 
but this did not afford a very satisfactory meal 
to the forty who shared it, so the hungry Pilgrims 
were obliged to buy a partridge from some of the 
natives, having had but one meal in thirty-six hours. 
"Very importunate," continues their narative, "he 
was, to have us stay with him longer : but we desired 
to keep the Sabbath at home; and feared we should 
be light-headed for want of sleep. For what with 
bad lodging; the savages' barbarous singing, for 
they use to sing themselves asleep ; lice and fleas 
vWthin doors ; and mosquitoes without : we could 
hardly sleep all the time of our being there. We 
much feared that if we should stay any longer, we 
should not be able to recover home for want of 
strength." 

Friday moniing at daj'-break, the two Pilgrims 
started on their homeward journey, arriving at 
Plymouth Saturday night, tired and hungry, but 
having accomplished their mission in binding the 



RelatioTis with the Indicms 239 

Indians more closely to them in the ties of peace 
and friendship. 

Not long afterwards John Billington, Jr., stray- 
ing from home lost himself in the woods and after 
subsisting for five days on berries was picked up 
by the Nausets, who had attacked them on the shore 
of Wellfleet Bay. Ten men were selected as a rescue 
party, and the shallop gotten ready for their 
voyage. During the day they encountered a violent 
\ thunder storm, and that night they anchored near 
Cummaquid (now Barnstable) where they were 
stranded by the fall of the tide. 

On the morrow they saw some Indians, seeking 
lobsters, by whom they were invited ashore and 
I kindly treated. They met lyanough, their sachem, 
t and an old squaw, three of whose sons were kid- 
napped by Captain Hunt. She wept bitterly on see- 
1 ing the Englishmen, but they expressed their sorrow 
' for the loss which she had sustained and assured 
I them that all Englishmen were not like Hunt. She 
* was appeased somewhat by a few trifles which they 
( gave her. 

I After dinner they continued their voyage to the 
' Nausets, where the shallop was grounded by the low 
1 tide. lyanough and Squanto, who had accompanied 
i them, were sent to tell Aspinet, the sachem of the 
Nausets, the object of their visit. At evening with 
\ not less than a hundred of his men Aspinet came 
i bearing upon his shoulders the lost boy decked with 



240 The Builders of a Nation 

beads. Peace was made between them and two knives 
were given for the return of the boy, one to Aspinet 
and the other to the one who had "first entertained 
the boy, and brought him thither." 

From the Nausets, the Pilgrims heard a rumor 
to the effect that the Narragansetts had raided 
Pokanoket and had taken Massasoit prisoner. As 
the ten men upon this expedition were among the 
ablest in the colony and by their treaty with the 
Indians were under obligations to help them if they 
could, they made haste to return. The winds, how- 
ever, were contrary, and they discovered that they 
were short of water, but the Indians offered willing 
assistance, lyanough taking a casket and leading a 
party a long way through the woods at night for 
water, and then carrying it back to the shallop. 
They finally reached Plymouth without mishap, 
learning that while Massasoit had not been taken by 
the Narragansetts, a plot was on foot to discredit 
him with his own people because of his friendship 
with the English. 

Squanto and Hobomuk, another friendly Indian, 
going to Namasket to ascertain the cause of the 
disturbance, were captured by Corbitant, the chief 
of the Pocassets, who denounced the friendly rela- 
tions between the Indians and the whites. He 
threatened the lives of Squanto and Hobomuk. While 
Corbitant was holding a knife at the throat of 
Squanto saying, "If he were dead the English had 



Relations with the Indians 241 

lost their tongue," Hobomuk being "a strong and 
stout man" made his escape, and hastened to Plym- 
outh announcing that Squanto had been slain. 

Upon receipt of this intelligence, the colonists 
decided to send ten men under the leadership of 
Captain Standish with Hobomuk as their guide, to 
avenge the death of Squanto uj)on Corbitant their 
"bitter enemy." Having come within a few miles 
of Namasket, they halted until midnight with the 
plan of surrounding Corbitant's dwelling, each mem- 
ber of the company being "appointed his task by the 
Captain." At night, Hobomuk, their guide, lost his 
way, which in view of his familiarity with the 
country was very surprising, the probability being 
that he was overcome by his fears. This discouraged 
the Pilgrims somewhat, as they were wet, it having 
rained during the day, and weary with the weight 
of their armor and weapons. However, one of their 
number, either Winslow or Hopkins, who had been to 
Namasket before, soon found the trail, and march- 
ing forwards, they beset the house according to the 
strategy which had been planned. The Indians, taken 
by surprise, attempted to escape but, says the nar- 
rator, "in this hurly burly we discharged two pieces 
at random" which frightened all of the inhabitants 
and slightly wounded two, a man and woman. 

From the Indians, the Pilgrims learned that 
Corbitant had gone away leaving Squanto un- 
harmed,, who with Tokamahamon, another friendly 



242 The Builders of a Nation 

Indian, welcomed the whites and assured the others 
that no harm was intended. So careful were the 
English not to hurt the women that the Indian boys 
"often cried Neen squaes, that is to say, 'I am a 
woman': the women also hanging upon Hobomuk, 
calling him toman, that is, 'friend.' " 

The next morning the Pilgrims assured the 
Indians who remained, Corbitant and his faction 
having taken to flight, that although Corbitant had 
escaped this time, yet if he continued threatening 
them and provoking others against them, if any 
harm should come to Massasoit, or if hereafter Cor- 
bitant "should make any insurrection against him" 
or injure any of his subjects, they would revenge 
it upon him to the overthrow of him and his." 

This expedition had a very salutary eff*ect upon 
the Indians and after an absence of two days and 
one night Captain Standish and his men returned to 
Plymouth, bringing with them the wounded man and 
woman to have their wounds dressed and cared for 
by Dr. Fuller, the Pilgrim physician. 

Friendly relations with the Indians having been 
strengthened by these various expeditions, the 
Colonists decided to send some of their number to 
the Indian villages around Massachusetts Bay, 
where the natives were reputed to be hostile. On 
Tuesday, September 28th, a party set out in their 
shallop, under the leadership of Standish and Wins- 



Relations with the Indicms 243 

low. Sailing at midnight with the tide, they hoped to 
arrive early the next moniing, but did not reach the 
Bay until late that afternoon, so they anchored for 
the night and landed early Thursday morning at 
Squantum, near Quincy. They were kindly received 
by Obbatinewat, the sachem, of whom it was said 
"though he lives in the bottom of Massachusetts 
Bay, yet he is under Massasoit. . . . He told us, He 
durst not then remain in any settled place ; for fear 
of the Tarentines : also the Squaw Sachem, or 
Massachusetts' Queen, was an enemy to him." 

They then crossed the Bay to where Charlestown 
now stands, being much impressed with the "harbors 
for shipping" and the "very good fishing ground." 
On this side of the Bay, where they saw several 
ruined forts, indicating the warlike character of the 
inhabitants, the men apparently had fled at their 
approach, leaving the squaws in possession. "Here," 
says their narrator, "Tisquantum would have had us 
rifle the savage women ; and take their skins, and all 
such things as might be serviceable for us : 'for,' said 
he, 'they are a bad people ; and have often threatened 
you.' But our answer was, 'Were they never so bad; 
we would not wrong them, or give them any just 
occasion against us. For their words, we little 
weighed them: but if they once attempted anything 
against us, then we would deal far worse than they 
desired.' Having well spent the day, we returned to 



244 The Builders of a Nation 

the shallop ; almost all the women accompanying us, 
to truck. Who sold their coats from their backs; 
and tied boughs about them: but with great shame- 
fastness ; for indeed they are more modest than some 
of our English women." Sailing that night by the 
light of the moon they reached Plymouth the follow- 
ing day. 

Although the contrary opinion has long been prev- 
alent, none of the early American colonists could 
have dealt more justly and fairly with the Indians 
than did our Pilgrim Fathers. Writing at the end 
of the first year Edward Winslow said : "We have 
found the Indians A'^ery faithful in their Covenant of 
Peace with us ; very loving and ready to pleasure 
us. We often go to them ; and they come to us. Some 
of us have been fifty miles by land in the country 
with them : . . . Yea, it hath pleased God so to possess 
the Indians with a fear of us, and love unto us, that 
not only the greatest King amongst them, called 
Massasoit ; but also all the Princes and peoples 
round about us, have either made suit unto us, or 
been glad of any occasion to make peace with us ; so 
that seven of them at once have sent their messengers 
to us to that end. Yea, an isle at sea, which we never 
saw (Capamack), hath also, joined together with the 
former, yielded willingly to be under the protection, 
and subjects to, our Sovereign Lord King James. 
So that there is now great peace amongst the 
Indians themselves, which was not formerly; neither 



Relations with the Indians 245 

would have been but for us : and we, for our parts, 
walk as peaceably and safely in the wood as in the 
highways in England. We entertain them familiarly 
in our houses ; and they, as friendly, bestowing their 
venison on us." 



CHAPTER XI 

TRIBULATIONS AND TRIUMPHS 

The autumn of the first year at Plymouth was ap- 
proaching. Notw-ithstanding the mortality among 
the colonists during the first few weeks of the settle- 
ment, the colony had been fairly prosperous. Seven 
houses and four public buildings, including the 
"common house" and storehouses for community 
supplies, had been erected, peace had been secured 
with the Indians, furs had been stored and timber 
prepared for shipment to England, as soon as the 
next vessel arrived, and although some of their crops 
had failed, the corn had done reasonably well. It 
seemed, therefore, an appropriate time for an oc- 
casion of rejoicing and thanksgiving, which, wrote 
Edward Winslow, was observed as follows: "Our 
harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men 
on fowling; that so we might, after a more special 
manner, rejoice together, after we had gathered the 
fruit of our labors. They four, in one day, killed as 
mucli fowl as, vnilx a little help besides, served the 
Company almost a week. At which time, amongst 
other recreations, we exercised our Arms ; many of 

246 



Tribulations and Triumphs 247 

the Indians coming amongst us. And, amongst the 
rest, their greatest King, Massasoit, with some 
ninety men; whom, for three days, we entertained 
and feasted. And they went out, and killed five 
deer: which they brought to the Plantation; and 
bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain, 
and others." 

Not long after the observance of this first New 
England Thanksgiving, the Nauset Indians brought 
word that a ship had been sighted off Cape May. 
This intelligence was received with no httle dismay, 
for it was feared that it might be a French ship 
with hostile intentions. Governor Bradford, says 
Winslow, commanded one of their cannon "to be shot 
off, to call home such as were abroad at work. 
Whereupon every man, yea, boy that could handle 
a gun, was ready ; with full resolution that, if she 
were an Enemy, we would stand, in our just defence, 
not fearing them." 

But instead of an enemy, the vessel turned out to 
be the Fortune with thirty-five additonal colonists, 
including William Brewster's eldest son, John Wins- 
low, a brother of Edward, Philip de la Noye, and 
Robert Cushman. Unfortunately these colonists 
were an embarrassment for the time being rather 
than a help, for while their harvest had been suf- 
ficiently bountiful for their own needs, they were 
hardly in a condition to care for so large an addi- 
tion to their number until the next harvest. These 



248 The Builders of a Nation 

new-comers moreover were poorly equipped to be- 
come the members of a pioneer conmiunity. Of their 
supplies on board the Fortune, Bradford wrote that 
"there was not so much as biscuit-cake or any other 
victuals for them, neither had they any bedding, 
but some sorry things in their cabins, nor pot, nor 
pan, to dress any meat in ; nor overmany clothes, for 
many of them had brushed away their coats and 
cloaks at Plymouth (England) as they came. But 
there was sent over some Burching-lane suits in the 
ship, out of which they were supplied. The planta- 
tion was glad of this addition of strength, but could 
have wished that many of them had been of better 
condition, and all of them better furnished with pro- 
visions ; but that could not now be helped." 

Winslow writing to a friend in England at this 
time gives the following advice to those planning to 
come to them: "Trust not too much on us for corn 
at this time : for by reason of this last company that 
came, depending wholly upon us, we shall have little 
enough till harv^est. Be careful to come by some 
of your meal, to spend by the way. It will much 
refresh you. Build your cabins as open as you can; 
and bring good store of clothes and bedding wnth 
you. Bring every man a musket, or fowling piece. 
Let your piece be long in tlie barrel; and fear not 
the weight of it, for most of our shooting is done 
from stands. Bring juice of lemons; and take it 
fasting. It is of good use. For hot waters, Anni- 



Tribidations and Triumphs 249 

seed Water is the best ; but use it sparingly. If you 
bring anytliing for comfort in the country ; butter, 
or sallet oil, or both, are very good. Our Indian 
corn, even the coarsest, maketh as pleasant meat as 
Rice: therefore spare that, unless to spend by the 
way. Bring paper and linseed oil, for your win- 
dows ; with cotton yam for your lamps. Let your 
shot be most for big fowls ; and bring store of 
powder and shot." 

The Fortune brought a letter from Weston of the 
Adventurers complaining bitterly because the May- 
flower had returned with no profitable cargo from 
the colonists, and intimating that their weakness, 
of which he had heard, was a weakness of judgment 
rather than of their hands, and that if one-quarter 
of the time which they had spent in discoursing, ar- 
guing and consulting had been expended in other 
ways, better results would have been produced. Gov- 
ernor Bradford made reply to this letter which had 
been addressed to Carver, in part as follows : 
"Touching him, he is departed this life, and now is 
at rest in the Lord from all those troubles and in- 
cumbrances with which we are yet to strive. He 
needs not my apology; for his care and pains was 
so great of the common good, both ours and yours, 
as that therewith (it is thought) he oppressed him- 
self and shortened his days; of whose loss we can 
sufficiently complain. At great charges in this ad- 
venture, I confess you have been, and many losses 



250 The Builders of a Nation 

may sustain ; but the loss of his and many other 
honest and industrious men's lives, cannot be valued 
at any price. . . . But it pleased God to visit us 
then, with death daily, and with so general a disease, 
that the living were scarce able to bury the dead; 
and the well not in any measure sufficient to tend the 
sick. And now to be so greatly blamed, for not 
freighting the ship, doth indeed go near us, and 
much discourage us." 

At the end of a fortnight the Fortime sailed on 
her homeward voyage, laden with beaver skins, sas- 
safras, and lumber to the value of five hundred 
pounds sterling, equivalent in present day values 
to perhaps four times that amount. 111 fortune, how- 
ever, befell the Fortwne, for when she had almost 
reached England, she was captured by a French 
man-of-war, and taken to Isle Dieu, where her 
cargo was confiscated and her passengers pillaged, 
some of whom were left without a hat to their heads 
or a shoe to their feet. Robert Cushman, who was 
aboard, managed to save most of the papers that 
the Pilgrims were sending over, including Bradford's 
and Winslow's Journal, known as Mourt^s Relation. 
However, a letter written by Governor Bradford, 
"containing a general Relation of all matters there" 
was confiscated. At the end of fourteen days the 
Forttme was released and permitted to proceed to 
England. 

Christmas occurred two days after the departure 



Trihvlations and Trvumphs 251 

of the Fortune. The Pilgrims looked upon this day 
as a heathjen holiday and went to work as usual. 
Some of the new-comers told the Governor that it 
went against their consciences to work on that day. 
He informed them that if it were a matter of con- 
science they might be excused until they were better 
informed. Returning at noon, he found them in 
the street pitching the bar, playing at stool ball, a 
game similar to modem cricket, and other sports. 
Governor Bradford accordingly took away their im- 
plements of sport, grimly telling them that he also 
had some scruples of conscience at their indulging 
in play while the others were at work. If it were a 
matter of devotion they must remain indoors, but 
no playing or revelling in the streets would be tol- 
erated. 

Not long after the departure of the Fortune, the 
Narragansetts began making threats against the 
colonists, their chief Canonicus finally sending a 
messenger to Plymouth "with a bundle of arrows tied 
about with a great snake-skin ; which their interpre- 
ters told them was a threatening and a challenge." 
The Pilgrims, however, were not to be intimidated. 
The governor, therefore, "with the advice of others, 
sent them a round answer, that if they had rather 
have war than peace, they might begin when they 
would ; they had done them no wrong, neither did 
they fear them, or should they find them unprovided. 
And by another messenger sent the snake-skin back 



262 The Builders of a Nation 

with bullets in it ; but they would not receive it, but 
sent it back again." 

Notwithstanding this bold front, the colonists re- 
alizing the seriousness of the danger which had 
threatened, and the precariousness of their position 
as well, resolved to strengthen the defences about 
Plymouth. During February and the first week in 
March, a palisade was constructed entirely around 
the settlement including the hill upon which their 
cannon had been placed. At each of the four cor- 
ners of the fortification, bulwarks or bastions were 
thrown up and so constructed that they could com- 
mand the intervening walls with musketry. In three 
of the bastions there were gates, where sentinels were 
stationed at night. This fortification having been 
completed. Captain Standish organized his forces 
into four squadrons or companies, each of which had 
its own leader, to whom the men were to resort in 
case of alarm, and whose orders in his absence they 
were to obey. To guard against the practice of the 
Indians discharging lighted arrows to set the houses 
on fire, one of these companies was appointed a fire- 
brigade, so that if an alarm of fire were given, they 
should immediately surround the house thus endan- 
gered, facing outwards to prevent treachery if any 
were intended. In case of fire in the house of a 
member of this guard, he was to be excused from 
duty, presumably that he might look after his own 
possessions. 



Tribulations and Triv/mphs 253 

Owing to the shortage in the foo d sup ply, oc- 
casioned by the addition to their numbers from the 
arrivals on the Fortune, it was decided to send an 
expedition to the Indians about Boston Bay, to pro- 
cure, if possible, additional supplies of food. This 
expedition, composed of eleven colonists and two 
Indians, Squanto and Hobomuk, set out in the shal- 
lop under command of Captain Standish. Scarcely 
had they cleared the harbor, and, the wind having 
failed, were taking to their oars, when three cannon 
were fired on shore, which was the alarm signal, so 
that they hastened back to the settlement. There it 
was learned that an Indian of Squanto's family had 
come running with a wound in his face which was 
still bleeding, and had announced that a hostile 
party under command of Massasoit and Corbitant 
was on the way to attack the settlement. 

Hobomuk discredited the whole story and stoutly 
maintained that Massasoit was friendly to the 
whites. Hobomuk's wife, therefore, was sent to Mas- 
sasoit's town and upon her return declared that the 
town was not only quiet, but that Massasoit was 
greatly offended, telling her to assure the governor 
that in case of hostilities he would give the white 
men warning according to the treaty between them. 
The story which the Indian had told was the result 
of a plot on the part of Squanto. His importance 
as an interpreter for the Pilgrims had turned his 
head, and he thought that by fomenting trouble be- 



254 The Builders of a Nation 

tween them and Massasoit, their ally, he would rise 
even higher in the esteem of the whites as their only 
friend. He had been in the habit of threatening the 
Indians by sending them word that the whites in- 
tended to kill them "that thereby he might get gifts 
to himself, to work their peace." He had also told 
the natives that the white men kept the plague bur- 
ied in their storehouse, which they could send forth 
at their pleasure upon whatever people they would 
without stirring from home. The ground being 
broken up in one of the storehouses where some gun- 
powder had been buried, Hobomuk asked what it 
meant, and Squanto replied that "that was the place 
wherein the plague was buried." Hobomuk distrust- 
ing the story asked one of the Pilgrims if it were 
true, and he was told that the plague was controlled 
by the white man's God, who could send it against 
their enemies. It was this circumstance that led 
Hobomuk to distinist Squanto and caused his un- 
doing. 

Governor Bradford sternly rebuked Squanto for 
his treachery, but since he was their only interpreter, 
he could not well be dismissed. Word was sent to 
the Indians that they need not fear the whites unless 
they began hostilities. The expedition to Boston 
Bay was then resumed, which turned out fairly suc- 
cessful, in spite of stormy weather. In the mean- 
while Massasoit had visited Plymouth, and having 
learned all of the particulars of Squanto's treachery 



Tribulations and Triwrnphs 255 

was much enraged. Soon after his departure he 
sent a messenger to the governor asking that Squan- 
to be delivered over to be put to death. Governor 
Bradford admitting tliat he deserved to die, never- 
theless owing to his usefulness to the colony, asked 
that he might be spared. 

INIassasoit, however, was not satisfied, for the mes- 
senger soon returned with divers others, offering 
Bradford "many beavers' skins for his consent there- 
to ; saying, That, according to their manner, their 
Sachem had sent his own knife, and them therewith, 
to cut off his head and hands, and bring them to 
him." The governor stated that it was not their 
custom to sell men's lives, and sent for Squanto to 
make his own defence. But the latter blamed Hobo- 
muk for his downfall. After this hearing Bradford 
I was about to turn Squanto over to the Indians, but 
j just at this juncture it was reported that a vessel 
had been sighted in the harbor. Fearing that it 
might be an enemy, the governor informed Massa- 
i soit's messengers that inquiries must first be made 
in regard to this boat before Squanto could be de- 
livered into their hands, whereupon they departed in 
a rage. 

The new arrival proved to be a shallop from the 
Sparrow, a vessel which Weston had sent on a fishing 
expedition to the Maine coast, with letters from the 
latter and seven passengers. In these letters Weston 
informed the Pilgrims that he had sold out his in- 



256 The Builders of a Nation 

terests in the Plymouth colony and was attempting 
to establish a colony of his own. He coolly re- 
quested that the seven men intended for his colony 
be cared for at Plymouth until the main contingent 
arrived. 

This shallop also brought a letter from the cap- 
tain of a fishing vessel, John Huddleston, "whose 
name they had never heard before," informing them 
of an Indian massacre wherein "many good friends 
in the south-colony of Virginia, have received such 
a blow, that four hundred persons large will not 
make good our losses. Therefore I do entreat you 
(although not knowing you) that the old rule which 
I learned when I went to school, may be sufficient. 
That is, Happy is he whom other me n^s harm s doth 
make to beware." 

The food question at Plymouth had become a most 
pressing one. Long before this they had been re- 
duced to short rations and now "in a manner their 
provisions were wholly spent and they looked for a 
supply, but none came." The kindly tone of Captain 
Huddleston's letter induced them to apply to him 
for assistance. This necessitated a voyage both 
ways of nearly two hundred and fifty miles, but 
such were the exigencies of their situation that Ed- 
ward Winslow was sent with the shallop on this er- 
rand. Huddleston not only received Winslow kindly 
and spared what he could but wrote to others to do 
likewise. "By which means," says Bradford, "he got 



Tribidations and Triumphs 257 

some good quantity and returned in safety. . . . But 
■what was got, and this small boat brought, being 
divided among so many, came but to a little, yet by 
God's blessing it upheld_tii£iil. till harvest. It arose 
but to a quarter of a pound of bread a day to each 
person ; and the Governor caused it to be daily given 
them, otherwise, had it been in their ovm custody, 
they would have eat it up and then starved. But 
thus, with what else they could get, they made pret- 
ty shift till corn was ripe." 

Although food was sorely needed, A^et in view of 
Huddleston's warning, they were unable to devote all 
of their attention to com raising. "This summer," 
wrote Bradford, "they built a fort with good timber, 
both strong and comely, which was of good defence, 
made with a flat roof and battlements, on which their 
I ordnance were mounted, and where they kept con- 
( stant watch, especially in time of danger. It ser^'ed 
them also for a meeting house, and was fitted accord- 
ingly for that use. It was a great work for them 
in this weakness and time of wants ; but the danger 
of the time required it, and both the continual ru- 
mors of the fears from the Indians here, especially 
the Narragansetts, and also the hearing of that 
great massacre in Virginia, made all hands willing 
to dispatch the same." 

The summer of 1622 was a trying summer for the 
Pilgrims. Weston's expedition arrived in the Char- 
ity and the Swan, bringing fifty or sixty settlers of 



258 The Builders of a Nation 

low grade. Finding the cars of gi'een com to be 
a toothsome food, they robbed the corn-fields of the 
colonists mercilessly, thereby reducing the crop of 
com upon which they were to depend for their next 
year's sustenance. Fortunately they remained but 
six weeks, sailing for Wessagusset, afterwards 
known as Weymouth, the site of Weston's colony, 
but leaving several sick behind to be cared for by 
the Pilgrims. During the summer the Sparrow and 
the Discovery arrived at Plymouth. The latter was 
commanded by Captain Jones, formerly of the May- 
flower. From him they obtained a supply of beads 
and other commodities for use in trading with the 
Indians. Owing to the depredations of Weston's 
men, the corn crop proved insufficient for their needs 
so that they were obliged to send several expeditions 
north and south to purchase food from the Indians. 
"They secured a large quantity of corn and beans 
from the Nausets on Cape Cod, but to the south 
trade was at a stand-still owing to the plague and 
the bad feeling which had been engendered by the 
treatment which the Indians had received from the 
colonists at Weymouth. To add to the embarrass- 
ments of the Pilgrims, early in the autumn their 
friend Squanto had died, praying "that he might 
go to the Englishmen's God in heaven" and be- 
queathing "sundry of his things to sundry of his 
English friends as remembrances of his love." 

On board the Discovery was a "gentleman," says 



Tribulations and Triwinplhs 259 

Bradford, "by name Mr. John Pory ; he had been 
secretary' in Virginia, and was now going home pas- 
senger in this ship, . . .and after his return did this 
poor plantation much credit amongst those of no 
mean rank." In a letter to the Lord of Southamp- 
ton Pory wrote in glowing terms of Plymouth 
Colony: "it pleased Almighty God (who had bet- 
ter provided for them than their own hearts could 
imagine) to plant them upon the seat of an old town, 
which divers [years] before had been abandoned of 
the Indians. So they both quietly and justly sat 
down without either dispossessing any of the natives, 
or being resisted by them, and without shedding so 
much as one drop of blood, which felicity of theirs 
is confirmed unto them even by the voices of the sav- 
ages themselves, who generally do acknowledge not 
only the seat, but the whole seignory thereto belong- 
ing, to be, and do themselves disclaim all title from 
it, so that the nght of those planters to it is alto- 
gether unquestionable, ... a favor which since the 
first discovery of America God hath not vouchsafed, 
so far as I could learn, upon any Christian nations 
within that continent. . . . To describe to your 
Lordship the excellency of the place, first, the harbor 
is not only pleasant for air and prospect, but most 
sure for shipping both small and great, being land- 
locked on all sides. The town is seated on the ascent 
of a hill, which besides the pleasure of variable ob- 
jects entertaining the unsatisfied eye, such is the 



260 The Builders of a Nation 

wholesomeness of the place (as the Governor told 
me) that for the space of one whole year [i. e. the 
second year], of the two wherein they had been 
there, died not one man, woman, or child. This 
healthfulness is accompanied with much plenty both 
of fish and fowl every day in the year, as I know no 
place in the world that can match it. . . . From 
the beginning of September till the end of March, 
their bay in a manner is covered with all sorts of 
waterfowl, in such sort of swarms and multitudes as 
is rather admirable than credible. . . . Touching 
their fruit I ^nll not speak of their meaner sort as of 
raspes, cherries, gooseberries, strawberries, delicate 
plums and others, but they have commonly through 
the country five several sorts of grapes, some where- 
of I tasted, being fairer and larger than any I saw 
in the South Colony. ... In this land (as in other 
parts of this main) they have plenty of deer and of 
turkeys as large and as fat as in any other place. 

"So much of the wholesomeness and plent}'^ of the 
country. Now as concerning the quality of the peo- 
ple, how happy were it for our people in the South- 
ern Colony, if they were as free from wickedness and 
vice as these are in this place! And their industry 
as well appeareth by their building, as by a sub- 
stantial palisade about their [settlement] of twenty- 
seven hundred foot in compass, stronger than I 
have seen any in Virginia, and lastly by a blockhouse 
which they have erected in the highest place of the 



Tribulations and Trmmph^ 861 

town to mount their ordnance upon, from whence 
they may command ail the harbor. As touching 
their correspondence with the Indians, they are 
friends with all their neighbors, as namely with 
those of Conahasset, and Massachuset to the north, 
with the great king of Pokanoket to the southwest, 
with those of Pamet, Nauset, Capawack and others 
to the east and south." 

In March of the following year (1623) word was 
brought to the colonists that their friend and ally, 
Massasoit, was dangerously jll„ at Sowams. Indian 
custom required a visit to the chief at such a time. 
With Hobomuk as interpreter and guide, Edward 
Winslow and John Hamden, "a gentleman of Lon- 
don," who had spent the winter at Plymouth "and 
desired much to see the country" hastened to Massa- 
soit's \allage. Attempts have not been wanting to 
identify this John Hamden with the celebrated Eng- 
lish patriot of the same name, but sufficient evidence 
is lacking to establish such a fact, interesting as it 
might be. 

After the party had been on the journey two 
days, they were told by some Indians whom they met 
that Massasoit w as dea d. Hobomuk wished to re- 
turn, but Winslow decided that it was better to pro- 
ceed since Corbitant, their former enemy, would 
probably be Massasoit's successor if he were dead. 
Hamden "was willing to that or any other course 
that might tend to the general good." On their ar- 



262 The Builders of a Nation 

rival at Sowams, they found that Massasoit was still 
alive but in a very critical condition. It was almost 
impossible to enter his dwelling as the Indians had 
thronged to see their dying chief. "There were 
they," says Winslow, "in the midst of their charms 
for him: making such a hellish noise, as it distem- 
pered us that were well ; and therefore unlike to ease 
him that was sick." For two days the patient had 
not slept and was nearly blind. He was able to un- 
derstand that Winslow had arrived to see him and 
requested that he come near. Winslow did so in- 
forming him that Governor Bradford was sorry be- 
cause of his condition and had sent such things as 
were likely to do him good in this extremity. In con- 
formity with the sachem's desire Winslow took 
charge of the case, administering some simple rem- 
edies and insisting upon quiet to induce sleep 
"which was the principal thing he wanted." Within 
a day or two he was on the road to recovery and 
gratefully said: "Now I see the English are my 
friends, and love me: and whilst I live, I will never 
forget this kindness they have shewed me." 

As a proof of his gratitude he revealed to Hobo- 
muk a plot of the Massachusetts Bay Indians 
against the Weymouth colony, which they proposed 
to massacre and with them the colonists at Ply- 
mouth. This plot, he charged Hobomuk to make 
known to Winslow on t]ie homeward journey, and 
with it the advice not to wait until they had been 






Tribulations and Tritimphs 263 

attacked but to strike the first blow. The colonists 
at Weymouth being a sorry lot had wronged the In- 
dians in many ways until finally their supplies hav- 
ing become exhausted, the natives refused to sell 
them food upon any terms, so that the plan of mak- 
ing a raid upon the Indian stores was discussed. Be- 
fore doing so they wrote to Governor Bradford for 
advice, but he opposed the idea because of the results 
which would be sure to follow, viz. : the hatred of the 
savages together with the fact that their ill-gotten 
gains would last but a little time, when they would 
be under the necessity of seeking food from those 
whom they had made their enemies. 

Numerous circumstances confirmed the suspicions 
of the Pilgrims as to this plot, and after fully de- 
liberating upon the matter at their annual election 
vigorous measures were decided upon. Captain Stan- 
dish was dispatched on April 4, 1623, with eight men 
in the shallop to Weymouth, presumably upon a 
trading expedition. Having reached Weymouth he 
found the settlers scattered, with the Indians coming 
in and out of their dwellings at their pleasure. Up- 
on Standish's advice the men were called home and 
ordered upon pain of death to remain. Four or five 
Indians, who had begun to suspect his designs and 
had assumed a defiant attitude, surrounding Stand- 
ish and sharpening their knives were inveigled into 
one of the dwellings with an equal number of his 
own men. The contest, witliout fire-arms, which fol- 



264 The Builders of a Nation 

lowed, was short, sharp, and decisive. Three of the 
Indians were slain and a fourth was hanged, besides 
two others who were killed by Weston's men. The 
natives were terrorized and soon took to flight. The 
head of Witumat, one of the leading conspirators, 
was taken to Plymouth and set up on the fort. Wes- 
ton's settlement, however, was abandoned, some of 
the colonists going to Plymouth, and the rest to join 
their friends at the Eastern fisheries. "This," said 
Governor Bradford, "was the end of these that some 
time boasted of their strength, (being all able lusty 
men), and what they would do and bring to pass, in 
comparison of the people here, who had many women 
and children and weak ones amongst them; and said 
at their first arrival, when they saw the wants here, 
that they would take another course, and not fall 
into such a condition, as this simple people were 
come to. But a man's way is not in his own power; 
God can make the weak to stand; let him also that 
standeth take heed lest he fall." 

Soon after Weston came over in disguise to visit 
his colony, but was shipwrecked, and after having 
been robbed by the Indians, succeeded in reaching 
Plymouth in rather a sorry plight, of which Brad- 
ford remarked, "A strange alteration there was in 
him to such as had seen and known him in his for- 
mer flourishing condition ; so uncertain are the 
mutable things of this unstable world." Remem- 
bering his "foraier courtesies" the Pilgrims received 



TrihidatioTis and Triumphs 265 

him kindly and furnished him with supplies. "But 
he requited them ill, for he proved after a bitter 
enemy unto them upon all occasions, and never re- 
paid them anything for it, — but reproaches and evil 
words." 

Until the spring of 1623, Plymouth colony had 
been upon a communistic basis. The houses of the 
settlers were individual property but the crops were 
raised in common for their general consumption. 
The results, however, did not justify the continuance 
of the scheme. "At length," wrote Bradford, "after 
much debate of things, the Governor (with the ad- 
vice of the chief est amongst them) gave way that 
they should set com every man for his own particu- 
lar, and in that regard trust to themselves ; in all 
other things to go in the general way as before. . . . 
This had very good success ; for it made all hands 
very industrious, so as much more com was planted 
than otherwise would have been by any means the 
Governor or any other could use, and saved him a 
great deal of trouble, and gave far better content. 
The women now went willingly into the field, and 
took their little ones with them to set com, which 
before would allege weakness, and inability ; whom to 
have compelled would have been thought great tyr- 
anny and oppression." 

The Plymouth governor moralizes upon the fail- 
ure of a scheme which in theory had seemed so at- 
tractive, but which in the end had militated not only 



266 The Builders of a Nation 

against self-interest but self-respect : "The experi- 
ence that was had in this common course and con- 
dition, tried sundry years, and that amongst godly 
and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that 
conceit of Plato's and other ancients, applauded by 
some of later times ; — that the taking away of prop- 
erty, and bringing in community' into a common- 
wealth, would make them happy and flourishing; as 
if they were wiser than God. For this community 
(so far as it was) was found to breed much con- 
fusion and discontent, and retard much employment 
that would have been to their benefit and comfort. 
. . . Upon the point of all being to have alike, and 
all to do alike, they thought themselves in the like 
condition, and one as good as another; and so, if it 
did not cut off those relations that God hath set 
amongst men, yet it did much diminish and take off 
the mutual respects that should be preserved 
amongst them. And would have been worse if they 
had been men of another condition. Let none object 
this is men's corruption, and nothing to the course 
itself. I answer, seeing all men have this corruption 
in them, God in his wisdom saw another course fitter 
for them." 

A drought had followed the early planting season 
and continued several weeks, so that "the most 
courageous were now discouraged." It was therefore 
resolved "to humble tliemselves together before the 
Lord by fasting and prayer." Religious services 



Tribulations and Triumphs 267 

were held "some eight or nme hours." When they 
assembled "the heavens were as clear and the 
drought as like to continue as ever," but when they 
dispersed the clouds had "gathered together on all 
sides. And, on the next morning distilled such soft, 
sweet, and moderate showers of rain, continuing 
some fourteen days, and mixed with such seasonable 
weather; as it was hard to say, Wliether our with- 
ered com, or drooping affections, were most quick- 
ened or revived. Such was the bounty and goodness 
of our God." The Indians learning of this through 
Hobomuk "admired the goodness of their God to- 
wards them, that wrought so great a change in so 
short a time." Winslow, who tells the story, goes on 
to relate that "having these many signs of God's 
favor and acceptation, we thought it would be 
great ingratitude, if secretly we should smother up 
the same ; or content ourselves with private thanks- 
giving for that which by private prayer could not 
be obtained. And therefore another Solemn Day 
was set apart and appointed for that end: wherein 
we returned glory, honor, and praise, with all thank- 
fulness to our good God, which dealt so graciously 
with us; whose name (for these, and all other mer- 
cies towards his Church and chosen ones), by them, 
be blessed and praised, now and evennore." 

In July, 1623, the ship Anne arrived from Eng- 
land, followed a few days hitcr by the pinnace Little 
James, bringing about a hundred additional colo- 



268 The Builders of a Nation 

nists, including' several from Leyden, among them 
George Morton and his family; Fear and Patience, 
the two daughters of Elder Brewster; the wife of 
Dr. Fuller; Mrs. Southworth, who afterwards mar- 
ried Governor Bradford; and Barbara, who became 
the wife of Myles Standish. Surprises awaited these 
new-comers in the lines of care which they saw writ- 
ten upon the faces of those with whom they had 
parted at Delfshaven three years before, the tattered 
condition of their clothing, the log huts in which 
they lived, and their scanty fare ; "the best dish they 
could present their friends mth was a lobster, or a 
piece of fish, without bread, or anything else but a 
cup of fair spring water." Some wished themselves 
back in England, others wept fearing a like fate, but 
"some of their old friends rejoiced to see them, and 
that it was no worse with them, for they could not 
expect it should be better, and now hoped they 
should enjoy better days together." 

A third or more of the new arrivals had come at 
their own expense and were in no sense bound to the 
Adventurers. It was therefore decided that these, 
who were called "particulars," should be free from 
the general employments of the company, except the 
common defence and other public services, that they 
should be subject to the laws already made or there- 
after to be made for the public good, that each male 
above the age of sixteen should contribute a bushel 
of Indian corn annually towards the maintenance of 



TrihuLations and Triumphs 269 

the government, and that until the expiration of 
the partnership between the Colony and the Adven- 
turers, they should be debarred from trading with 
the Indians in furs and other commodities. 

The Arme was soon laden with lumber, beaver and 
other furs, for the return voyage. Edward Winslow 
went over to report on the progress of the colony 
and to provide necessary commodities for the grow- 
ing community. This year's harvest more than jus- 
tified the abandonment of the commvmistic system. 
"Instead of famine," wrote Governor Bradford, 
"now God gave them plenty, and the face of things 
was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, 
for which they blessed God. And the effect of their 
particular planting was well seen, for all had, one 
way and other, pretty well to bring the year about, 
and some of the abler sort and more industrious had 
to spare, and sell to others, so as any general want 
or famine hath not been amongst them since to this 
day." 

In 1623 Robert Gorges, to whom a tract of land 
extending ten miles along the coast of Massachusetts 
Bay and thirty miles into the interior had been 
granted for £160, was appointed "general Governor 
of the country." He attempted a settlement at the 
deserted village of Weymouth, but returned in a few 
months to England "not finding the state of things 
here to answer his quality and condition." He had 
brought with him Francis West as Admiral, to regu- 



270 The Builders of a Nation 

late the fishing, and an Episcopal clergyman, Wil- 
liam Morrel, who spent a year at Plymouth studying 
Indian anthropology and natural history, after 
Gorges' return to England. Says Bradford: "He 
had I know not what power and authority of super- 
intendency over other churches granted him, and 
sundry instructions for that end; but he never 
showed it, or made any use of it; (it should seem he 
saw it was in vain) ; he only spake of it to some here 
at his going away." 

On November 5th (Old Style), a disastrous fire 
threatened the town with extinction. Some sailors 
from the Paragon and the Swan, who "were royster- 
ing in a house'* either maliciously or in celebration of 
Guy Fawke's day built too great a fire "which broke 
out of the chimney into the thatch" with the result 
that three or four houses were burned. "The house in 
which it began was right against their store-house, 
which they had much ado to save, in which were 
their common store and all their provisions ; the 
which if it had been lost, the plantation had been 
overthrown." By covering it over with wet blankets 
this disaster was averted. After this fire several of 
the "particulars" who had come over in the Awne 
took passage for Virginia, "some out of discourage- 
ment and dislike of the country; and others by rea- 
son of (the) fire that broke out, and burnt the 
houses they lived in, and all their provisions so they 
were necessitated thereunto." 



Tribtdations and Triumphs 271 

During the first three years at Plymouth, the few 
criminal trials were conducted by the whole assem- 
bly, the governor presiding and executing sentence. 
But on December 27, 1623, trial by jury was insti- 
tuted, it being enacted in the first statute entered in 
the Colony Record-book that "all criminal facts, and 
also all matters of trespass and debt between man 
and man, shall be tried by the verdict of twelve hon- 
est men, to be empanelled by authority in the form 
of a jury upon their oath." 



CHAPTER XII 

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS 

At the annual election, in March, 1624, William 
Bradford having served three consecutive terms as 
governor entered a protest against re-election on 
the ground that "if it was any honor or benefit, it 
was fit others should be made partakers of it; if it 
was a burden, (as doubtless it was,) it was but equal 
others should help to bear it." Notwithstanding 
this protest the Pilgrims had too high a regard for 
his administrative abilities and the invaluable serv- 
ices which he had rendered, to permit his retirement 
at tliis time. He was accordingly re-elected, but 
with five Assistants instead of one, to divide the 
duties and responsibilities of this office. Later the 
number of Assistants was increased to seven, the 
town meeting and the Governor with his Assistants 
constituting the only government at Plymouth until 
1638, when the colony having expanded until it em- 
braced other towns and communities, it was "enacted 
by the Court, for the ease of the several colonies 
and towns within the government, that every town 
should make choice of two of their freemen, and the 

272 



Further Developments 273 

town of Plymouth of four, to be Committees or 
Deputies to join with the bench to enact and make 
all such laws and ordinances as should be judged to 
be good and wholesome for the whole." These Depu- 
ties were not to be paid out of the general fund, but 
by the towns which sent them. Deputies who proved 
"insufficient or troublesome" might be dismissed by 
their associates and the Assistants, when their town 
should "choose other freemen in their place." The 
; government as thus constituted consisted of two 
branches, the Governor with his seven Assistants and 
the Deputies from the towns. Both branches sat 
and acted together, the Governor presiding. This 
remained the only legislative body so long as the 
, separate existence of Plj^mouth Colony continued. 
] In the spring of 1624, Edward Winslow returned 
I on the Chnrity from his trip to England bringing 
I much needed supplies and "three heifers and a bull, 
I the first beginning of any cattle of that kind in the 
land." Just when horses were introduced into Ply- 
' mouth is not known. Horses were owned at Salem 
as early as 1629. Six years later a consignment was 
I brought to Boston in the James and that same year 
horses were brought to the Boston market in Dutch 
ships from Holland. According to Thatcher "the 
first notice of horses on record is 1644, when a mare 
belonging to the estate of Stephen Hopkins, was ap- 
praised at six pounds sterling." Horses, therefore, 
must have been introduced into Plymouth before 



274< The Builders of a Nation 

that date, possibly as early as at Boston, and per- 
haps through the same channels. 

Besides cattle and supplies Winslow brought over 
a ship carpenter, who "was an honest and very in- 
dustrious man," who "quickly built them two very 
good and strong shallops — and a great and strong 
lighter, and had hewn timber for two catches" but 
unfortunately he soon sickened and died. Another 
man whom the Adventurers sent at the same time 
to make salt, proved to be "an ignorant, foolish, 
self-willed fellow" who made only trouble and waste. 
With them came John Lj'ford, an Anglican clergy- 
man of Puritan sympathies whom the Adventurers 
attempted to force upon the church at Plymouth. 
Cushman expressed the hope that he was "an honest 
plain man, though none of the most eminent and 
rare." Winslow and himself were present at his 
appointment and only "gave way to his going, to 
give content to some" there. 

The Pilgrims would have much preferred their 
own minister, John Robinson, together with the rest 
of their congregation at Leyden, but in letters which 
Winslow brought from Robinson we get an inkling 
as to the reason for their detention : "the adventur- 
ers allege nothing but want of money, which is an 
in\nncible difficulty, yet if that were taken away by 
you, others without doubt will be found. For the 
better clearing of this, we must dispose the adventur- 
ers into three parts ; and of them some five or six (as 



Further Developments 275 

I conceive) are absolutely bent for us, above any 
others. Other five or six are our bitter professed 
adversaries. The rest, being the bod}', I conceive 
to be honestly minded, and lovingly also towards 
us; yet such as have others (namely the forward 
preachers) nearer unto them, than us, and whose 
course so far as there is any difference, they would 
rather advance than ours. . . . And I persuade my- 
self, that for me they of all others are unwilling I 
should be transported, especially such as have an eye 
that way themselves ; as thinking if I come there, 
their market will be marred in many regards. And 
for these adversaries, if they have but half the wit to 
their malice, they will stop my course when they see 
it intended, for which this delaying serveth them 
very opportunely. And as one resty jade can hinder, 
by hanging back, more than two or three can (or 
will at least, if they be not very free) draw forward, 
so will it be in this case. A notable experiment of 
this, they gave in your messengers' presence, con- 
straining the company to promise that none of the 
money now gathered should be expended or employed 
to help any of us toward you." 

The Adventurers, as a body, it seems, did not at 
all sympathize with the Separatist principles of the 
Pilgrims and sent over Lyford with the purpose of 
subverting the existing order, although it was under- 
stood that he was to hold no official position in the 
colony until they had exercised "their own liberty 



276 The Builders of a Nation 

and discretion" about choosing him to office. How- 
ever, he was kindly received, given "a larger 
allowance of food out of the store than any other 
had" and was asked to counsel with the Governor 
and his Assistants "in their weightiest business" as 
Elder Brewster had done. 

"When this man," says Bradford, "first came 
ashore he saluted them with reverence and humility 
as is seldom seen, and indeed made them ashamed, he 
so bowed and cringed unto them; . . . yea, he wept 
and shed many tears." He soon sought church mem- 
bership among them, making "a large confession of 
his faith, and an acknowledgment of liis former dis- 
orderly walking, and his being entangled with many 
corruptions, which had been a burden to his con- 
science, and blessed God for this opportunity of 
freedom and liberty to enjoy the ordinances of God 
in purity among his people, with many more such 
like expressions." 

Notwithstanding these hypocritical avowals of 
Lyford he was soon consorting with certain malcon- 
tents among the "particulars" who had come over 
in the Anne, especially with John Oldham, the "chief 
stickler in the former faction among the par- 
ticulars." About tlie time when the Charity was 
ready to return, Lyford spent much time in writing 
letters, which he was seen showing to his "intimates" 
and at which they chuckled in their sleeves. Suspect- 
ing the defamatory character of these epistles, Gov- 



Further Developments STSfT 

ernor Bradford intercepted them on board the vessel. 
In these letters charges were made against the civil 
management of the colony, alleging religious intol- 
erance ; discrimination against the "particulars" ; 
unjust and unequal distribution of provisions; and 
waste of tools and vessels. He advised "that the 
Leyden company, Mr. John Robinson and the rest, 
must still be kept back, or else all will be spoiled," 
that "such a number" should be "provided as might 
oversway them here," and that another should be 
sent over to supersede Capt. Standish who "looks 
like a silly boy, and is in utter contempt." 01dham*s 
letters are not described, but in "a letter from one 
of their confederates" it was stated that "Mr. 
Oldham and Mr. Lyford intended a reformation in 
church and commonwealth." 

These letters Governor Bradford prudently kept 
until circumstances forced him to show his hand. 
Within a short time, when Oldham was required to 
take his turn as a sentinel in the fort he "refused to 
come, fell out with the Captain, called him a rascal, 
and beggarly rascal, and resisted him, drew his knife 
at him ; though he offered him no wrong, nor gave 
him no ill terms, but with all fairness required him 
to do his duty." The Governor hearing the tumult, 
undertook to quiet it, but he raved "more like a furi- 
ous beast than a man" calling them traitors and 
rebels, "but after he was clapt up awhile he came to 
himself" and was released upon good behavior. Fin- 



278 The Builders of a Nation 

ally Lyford and his accomplices, without a word to 
the Governor, Church or Elder, withdrew themselves 
and set up public worship of their own. 

Governor Bradford felt that the time for action 
had come and summoning the court with the whole 
company, charged Lyford and Oldham with secretly 
plotting against them. The charge was indignantly 
denied, but when Lyford's letters were produced he 
was struckdumb. Oldham tried to raise a mutiny 
"among those present,' but "all were silent being 
struck with the injustice of the thing." Lyford 
"confessed he feared he was a reprobate, his sins 
were so great that he doubted God would not pardon 
them, he was unsavory salt, &c., and that he had so 
wronged them as he could never make them amends, 
confessing all he had written against them was false 
and naught, both for matter and manner." 

The leaders in this conspiracy were ordered to 
leave the colony, Oldham at once, being permitted, 
however, to leave his family beliind until provision 
could be made for them, but Lyford was permitted 
to remain six months longer. He subsequently pro- 
fessed deep penitence, publicly confessing his sins 
to the church "with tears more largely than before." 
He was forgiven only to be discovered in further 
plots, writing a second letter to the Adventurers 
with the result that he was expelled. He went first 
to Nantasket, then to Salem, and at last to Virginia, 
where he died. 



Further Developments 279 

In this second letter Lyford complained that 
"they have had no ministry here since they came," to 
which Bradford made answer "the more is our 
wrong, that our pastor is kept from us by these 
men's means, and then reproach us for it when they 
have done. Yet we have not been wholly destitute of 
the means of salvation, as this man would make the 
world believe; for our reverend Elder hath labored 
diligently in dispensing the word of God unto us, 
before he came; and since hath taken equal pains 
with himself in preaching the same ; and, be it spoken 
without ostentation, he is not inferior to Mr. Lyford 
(and some of his betters) either in gifts or learning, 
through he would never be persuaded to take higher 
office upon him." 

In 1625 Oldham again appeared in Plymouth, but 
conducting himself more insolently than before, he 
was summarily and ignominiously expelled. They 
"appointed a guard of musketeers which he was to 
pass through, and every one was ordered to give him 
a thump on the breech, with the butt end of his 
musket, and then was conveyed to the water side, 
where a boat was ready to carry him away. Then 
they bid him go and mend his manners." 

The expulsion of Lyford and Oldham brought 
about strained relations between the colonists 
and the Adventurers, finally resulting in a rupture 
among the latter, "for," says Bradford, "the 
Company of Adventurers broke in pieces here- 



280 The Builders of a Nation 

upon, and the greatest part wholly deserted the 
colony on regard of any further supply, or care of 
their subsistence." Two-thirds of the Adventurers 
"deserted the colony" but the balance remained 
friendly, and writing of the defection of the others 
said "though we are persuaded the main cause of 
this their doing is want of money, (for need whereof 
men use to make many excuses), yet other things 
are pretended, as that you are Brownists, &c." The 
amount due from the colonists at this time was not 
less than fourteen hundred pounds sterling, and 
although the friendly Adventurers now sent cattle 
and goods, yet they were at such "dear rates" that 
"sundr}^" of the colonists complained. 

In 1625 Captain Standish was sent to England in 
the interests of the colony, but he arrived at a most 
inopportune time. King James had died at the end 
of March, and was succeeded by his son Charles I, 
who under the influence of William Laud, subse- 
quently Archbishop, was bending all of his energies 
in the enforcement of uniformity. London was suffer- 
ing from the pla^e which resulted, within a short 
time, in forty thousand deaths in the city. Owing to 
these reasons and doubtless too to the opposition 
which must have been engendered by the dissensions 
which had taken place among the Adventurers, Stan- 
I dish returned, the following April, having "taken up 
/ one hundred and fifty pounds (and spent a good 
i deal of it in expenses) at fifty per cent, which he 



Further Developments 281 

bestowed in trading goods and such other most need- 
ful commodities as he knew requisite for their use." 

He brought back the melancholy tidings of the 
deaths of Robert Cushman, who had been the right 
hand man of the colonists with the Adventurers, and 
Jolm Robinson, their pastor, who after a brief illness 
had passed away March 1, 1625. Writing from 
Leyden of his death, Roger White said: "If either 
prayers, tears, or means, would have saved his life, 
he had not gone hence. But he faithfully finished 
his course, and performed his work which the Lord 
had appointed him here to do, he now resteth with 
the Lord in eternal happiness. We wanting him and 
all Church Governors, yet we still (by the mercy of 
God) continue and hold close together in peace and 
quietness ; and so hope we shall do, though we be very 
weak. Wishing (if such were the will of God) that 
you and we were again united together in one, either 
there or here ; but seeing it is the will of the Lord 
thus to dispose of things, we must labor with 
patience to rest contented, till it please the Lord 
otherwise to dispose." 

Of Robinson's funeral Winslow wrote: "When 
God took him away from them and us by death, the 
University and ministers of the city accompanied 
him to his grave with all their accustomed solem- 
nities ; bewailing the great loss that not only that 
particular Church had whereof he was pastor, but 
some of the chief of them sadly affirmed that all the 



282 The Builders of a Nation 

Churches of Christ sustained a loss by the death of 
that worthy instrument of the Gospel." 

The pastor of the Pilgrim Church was buried 
under the pavement of St. Peter's at Leyden, 
the record, with the usual Dutch mistakes in spelling 
English names, being as follows: "1625, -1 March. 
John Roelands, Preacher of the English Community 
by the belfry — buried in the Peter's Church." The 
receipt for his burial is entered thus : "1625, 10 
March. Open and hire for John Robens English 
Preacher — 9 florins." Robinson's wife Bridget and 
three children, Mercy, Fear, and James, seem to have 
remained in Leyden, but his eldest son Isaac after- 
wards joined the Pilgrim community at Plymouth. 

The following March (1625) Isaac Allerton, as 
the agent of Plymouth Colony, made an arrange- 
ment with the Adventurers whereby William Brad- 
ford, Myles Standish, Isaac Allerton, Edward Wins- 
low, William Brewster, John Rowland, John Alden, 
and Thomas Prince assumed the entire indebtedness 
of the colony amounting to £1800, payable in nine 
annual installments, the first of which fell due in 
1628. These eight also agreed to pay off the other 
debts amounting to £600, for which they were to 
have for the space of six years a mojiopply of the 
trade of the colony, each of the colonists to pay 
them annually three bushels of corn or six pounds 
of tobacco ; and they also were to have the use of the 
three boats belonging to the colony with "the whole 



Further Developments 283 

stock of furs, felts, beads, corn, wampumpeag, 
knives, etc., that was now in store, or any way due 
upon account." They further agreed to import 
annually £50 worth of hose and shoes to be sold to 
the colonists for corn at six shillings per bushel. If 
the trade profits were insufficient to meet the annual 
payments in London, the deficiency was to be made 
up proportionately by the settlers, who were 
described and enrolled as purchasers. To meet this 
liability, the land was now divided into shares of 
twenty acres, every "purchaser" to have one share 
besides the land he already possessed, and an ad- 
ditional share for each member of his family. By 
this arrangement the "particulars" described before 
were placed on an equal footing with the rest. No 
subdivision was made of the meadow land, which was 
held in common, but every season each "purchaser" 
was assigned a certain portion which he was per- 
mitted to mow for the use of his cattle. 

In 1627 Plymouth was visited by Isaac De 
Rasieres, secretary of the colony of New Amster- 
dam, for the purpose of establishing trade relations 
between the two colonies, which continued for several 
years. We are indebted to him for a description of 
Plymouth at this time which he wrote in a letter 
to Holland : "New Plymouth lies on the slope of a 
hill stretching east towards the sea-coast, with a 
broad street about a cannon shot of eight hundred 
(feet) long, leading down the hill, with a (street) 



284 The Builders of a Nation 

crossing in the middle, northwards to the rivulet, and 
southwards to the land. The houses are constructed 
of hewn planks, with gardens also enclosed behind 
and at the sides with hewn planks, so that their 
houses and court-yards are arranged in very good 
order, with a stockade against a sudden attack ; and 
at the ends of the streets there are three wooden 
gates. In the centre, on the cross-street, stands the 
Governor's house, before which four patereros are 
mounted, so as to flank along the streets. Upon the 
hill they have a large square house, with a flat roof, 
made of thick sawn planks, stayed with oak beams, 
upon the top of which they have six cannons, which 
shoot iron balls of four and five pounds, and com- 
mand the surrounding country. The lower part they 
use for their church, where they preach on Sundays 
and the usual holidays. They assemble by beat of 
drum, each with his musket or firelock, in front of the 
captain's door; they have their cloaks on, and place 
themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a 
sergeant without beat of drum. Behind comes the 
Governor, in a long robe; beside him, on the right 
hand, comes the preacher, with his cloak on, and on 
the left hand the captain, with his side-arms and 
cloak on, and with a small cane in his hand; and so 
they march in good order, and each sets his arms 

) down near him. Thus they are constantly on their 

. guard night and day." 

In 1628 Plymouth Colony was under the necessity 



Further Developments 285 

of interfering with the settlement known as Mount 
Wollaston, near Quincy, which had been established 
three years before by Captain Wollaston. He soon 
left the settlement and after his departure, Thomas 
Morton, who was described by Bradford as "a kind 
of pettifogger of Fumivall's Inn," gained the as- 
cendency, changing the name of the settlement to 
Merrymount, and indulging in every species of de- 
bauchery. To cap the climax he sold arms and 
ammunition to the Indians. This the Pilgrims de- 
' cided was not to be tolerated, and after sending two 
letters to no purpose, remonstrating with such a 
course, they dispatched Captain Standish with a 
i band of Musketeers to take Morton by force. The 
latter resisted, but was brought to Plymouth and 
j sent to England to be dealt with by the Council for 
I New England. Thus ended the revels of Merry- 
1 mount and what might have been a serious menace 
I to the peace of the colony. 

I That same year AUerton brought over from Eng- 
( land a young minister by the name of Rogers, but 
! he proved to be "crazed in his brain" and was soon 
I sent back at considerable expense to the colony. The 
I year following the Rev. Ralph Smith, who had come 
j over to the Bay Colony, was found at Nantasket by 
I some of the Plymouth people "weary of being in 
that uncouth place, and in a poor house that would 
; neither keep him nor his goods dry. So, seeing him 
to be a grave man, and understood he had been a 



286 The Builders of a Nation 

minister, though they had no order for any such 
thing, yet they presumed and brought him. He was 
here accordingly kindly entertained and housed, and 
had the rest of his goods and servants sent for, and 
exercised his gifts amongst them, and afterwards 
was chosen to the ministry, and so remained for 
sundry years." 

In August, 1629, thirty-five members of the Ley- 
den congregation came over on the Mayjlower on 
its second voyage to the new world. A second party 
from Leyden arrived some time afterwards. These 
two parties were brought over at a cost to the 
Plymouth Colony of five hundred and fifty pounds, 
while the cost of maintenance until the second 
hai*vest after "was little less than the former sum," 
which says Governor Bradford, shewed "a rare ex- 
ample herein of brotherly love, and Christian care in 
performing their promises and covenants to their 
brethren, too, and in a sort beyond their power; that 
they should venture so desperately to engage them- 
selves to accomplish this thing, and bear it so cheer- 
fully ; for they never demanded, much less had, any 
repayments of all these great sums thus disbursed." 

Notwithstanding the number of colonists sent to 
the new world, the Leyden Church continued its 
separate existence for many years. In 1644, when 
15,567 florins were contributed by the Reformed 
Churches, for the relief of their brethren in Ireland, 
this little congregation sent 558 florins, a sum equiv- 



Further Developments 287 

alent in present values to one thousand dollars. 
Finally with the discontinuance of the English im- 
migration thither, the Ley den Separatists in 1658 
were merged into the Reformed Church of Holland. 

Early in 1630 the Council for New England issued 
a patent to "William Bradford, his heirs, associates, 
and assigns," defining for the first time the boun- 
daries of Plymouth Colony, and including a tract 
of land extending for fifteen miles on each side of 
the Kennebec River, which was acquired for a fishing 
and trading station. This patent empowered Brad- 
ford and his associates "from time to time to frame 
and make orders, ordinances, and constitutions," not 
contrary to the laws of England, and "for their 
several defence, to encounter, expulse, repel, and 
resist by force of arms, as well by sea as by land" 
all attempts "to inhabit or trade with the savage 
people of that country" within the limits of their 
plantation, or any attempt to destroy, invade, detri- 
ment, or annoy "their said plantation." No Royal 
Charter was ever granted, and this patent, the 
original of which is in the office of the Register of 
Deeds at Plymouth, remained the sole foundation for 
the government of Plymouth Colony until its incor- 
poration with Massachusetts in 1692. 

In 1631 Isaac Allerton who acted as agent for the 
eight men who had assumed the financial obligations 
of the colony, came near involving them and the 
colony in financial ruin by mismanaging their funds 



288 The BuUders of a Nation 

and contracting debts amounting to nearly five 
thousand pounds in addition to one thousand pounds 
still due the London Adventurers. "'Though the 
partners," savs Bradford, ''were thus plunged into 
great engagements, and oppressed with unjust debts, 
yet the Lord prospered their trading, that they made 
yearly large returns. . . . Also the people of the 
plantation began to grow in their outward estates, 
by reason of the flowing of many people into the 
country, especially into the Bay of Massachusetts; 
by whicli means corn and cattle rose to a great price, 
by which many wei^e much enriched, and commodities 
grew plentiful." By 1633 their obligations, accord- 
ing to Fiske and Morton Dexter, had been met in 
full. This, however, seems to be a mistake, for in 
1634 Edward Winslow was sent over to England to 
effect a settlement with the Adventurers, but he was 
not successful. The accounts kept getting more and 
more tangled until 1641 when a composition was 
decided upon, the eight partners who had assumed 
the obligation of the colony giving a bond for £2400 
"for payment of £1200 in full satisfaction of aU 
demands," £400 to be paid within two months and 
the remaining £800 to be paid at the rate of £200 
per annum. So finally after more than twenty years 
the colon v was freed from debt. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE SWARMING OF THE PURITANS 

In a preceding' chapter the rise of English Puri- 
tanism has been traced to the primacy of Archbishop 
Bancroft. The latter, who had vigorously enforced 
uniformity and had treated the Puritans with unre- 
lenting severity, died in 1610 and was succeeded by 

I George Abbot, a man of milder temper, who, said 
Clarendon, "considered religion no otherwise, than 

1 as it abhorred and reviled popery, and valued those 

I men most, who did that most furiously. For the 
strict observation of the discipline of the church, 
or the conformity to the articles or canons estab- 
lished, he made little inquiry, and took less case; . . . 

I he adhered wholly to the doctrine of Calvin, and, for 
his sake, did not think so ill of the discipline as he 
ought to have done. But if men prudently forbore 
a public reviling and railing at the hierarchy and 
ecclesiastical government, let their opinions and 
private practice be what it would, they were not 
only secure from any inquisition of his, but accept- 
able to him, and at least equally preferred by him." 
If Abbot was tolerant towards the Puritans, this 
289 



290 The Builders of a Nation 

was not true of King James, who published his 
famous "Book of Sports" in 1618, enjoining certain 
amusements as suited to Sunday afternoons, such 
as dancing, archery, leaping, vaulting. May-games, 
Morris-dances, etc. This book gave great offence to 
the Puritans who were strict Sabbatarians, and Ab- 
bot forbade the reading of the king's letter in his 
church at Croyden. Trask, a Puritan minister, who 
wrote a reply to the king's book, was sentenced to be 
placed in the pillory at Westminster, then whipped to 
the Fleet, and confined during the king's pleasure. 

By means of lectureships, which had been endowed 
by prominent Puritan laymen, Puritan preaching 
through Sunday afternoon lectures had continued in 
many parishes where the incumbent was absent, or 
obnoxious, or incompetent. In 1622 James, through 
Archbishop Abbot, forbade the discussion of such 
themes as predestination or grace before a general 
audience by a preacher of less rank than a dean. As 
these were the themes which were foremost in the 
minds of the Puritans, the issuance of such an order 
was distinctly hostile to the Puritan "lectureships." 

King James died in 1625, and although Abbot 
remained Archbishop of Canterbury until his death 
in 1633, after the accession of Charles I to the 
throne, his influence in eccesiastical affairs grew less 
and less as the new king looked more and more to 
William Laud for counsel and direction in all 
matters pertaining to the church. Laud had been 



The Swarmmg of the Puritans 291 

made bishop of Saint David's in 1621, but when. 
Charles came to the thione his promotion was rapid, 
being made Bishop of Bath and Wells, Bishop of 
London, Chancellor of Oxford University, and 
finally, upon the death of Abbot, Archbishop of 
Canterbury. 

Laud seemed bent on a restoration of the Church 
of England to the papacy. At his instigation, the 
king issued a proclamation in 1626, "that the king 
; will admit of no innovation in the doctrine, discipline 
or government of the church, and therefore charges 
all his subjects, and especially the clergy, not to 
publish or maintain, in preaching or writing, any 
new inventions or opinions, contrary to the said 
■ doctrine and discipline established by law." Impos- 
|ing forms and ceremonies were introduced into public 
1 worship, while altar-pieces, pictures, images, and 
I crucifixes adorned the English churches. Tlie Re- 
iformed doctrines were everywhere discouraged. In 
1629 a series of Injunction were issued, forbidding 
*Sunda3' afternoon lectures and substituting the use 
jOf the Catechism instead ; requiring that "every 
pLecturer do read Divine Service, according to the 
Liturgy printed by authority, in his Surplice and 
JHood, before the Lecture"; that all Lecturers 
j"preach in Gowns, and not in Cloaks, as too many 
no use"; that no Lecturer should be permitted to 
preach unless he were willing to take a Living and 
lactually do take one if procured for him; and that 



292 The Builders of a Nation 

no persons of an estate "under Noblemen, and Men 
qualified by Law" be allowed to have private chap- 
lains in their houses. 

Holding that ordination by bishops was essential 
to a valid ministry, Laud severed the ties which had 
united the Church of England with the Churches of 
Germany and Switzerland on the ground that the 
latter were not true churches. The Dutch and 
French churches, which up to this time had been 
permitted to exercise their own worship in England, 
were required to conform to the Establishment. The 
importation of the Genevan Bibles, with notes pre- 
pared by Calvinistic or Puritan divines, was pro- 
hibited. Hundreds of laymen were excommunicated 
for refusing to kneel when they partook of Com- 
munion. In opposition to a Puritanical observance 
of the Sabbath, King James' "Book of Sports" was 
re-issued. Chief Justice Richardson had forbidden 
all village wakes on Sunday and had ordered the 
publication of this prohibition by the clergy in time 
of service. For this he was reproved by the Arch- 
bishop, and in republishing the "Book of Sports" the 
king declared that "these feasts with others shall 
be observed, and that our justices of the peace shall 
see them conducted orderly, and that neighborhood 
and freedom with manlike and lawful exercises be 
used." 

The Star Chamber and Court of High Commis- 
sion were employed by Laud in enforcing uniformity. 



The Swarming of the Puritans 293 

Non-conformists were punished with ruthless sever- 
ity. For addressing "An Appeal to Parliament" 
against the prelates, Dr. Edward Leighton, father 
of Archbishop Leighton, was sent to Newgate with- 
out examination, and there put in irons, kept for 
fifteen weeks in a loathsome place exposed to snow 
and rain, without receiving a copy of his indictment, 
or being permitted to be visited by his wife or 
friends. Finally he was sentenced by the Star Cham- 
ber Court, Laud standing with uncovered head and 
thanking God for this victorj' over his enemies, to 
pay a fine of £10,000, to suffer perpetual imprison- 
ment, and after having his ears cut, his nose slit, 
his face branded, and his body scourged, to stand in 
a pillory, first in Palace-yard and afterwards at 
Cheapside. Thence he was taken to the Fleet where 
he remained until liberated by Parliament ten years 
later. 

Leighton's case was of course extreme, and al- 
though milder treatment as a rule was accorded non- 
conforming ministers, yet because for conscience's 
sake they could not yield in the matter of vestments, 
or services, or the observance of the Sabbath, they 
were deprived of their livings, prohibited from 
preaching in the fields or private houses, forbidden 
to teach school or take private pupils, or to engage 
in business or practice medicine. Moreover, they 
were liable to heavy fines and imprisonment. 

Tlie repressive measures of the crown, together 



294< The Builders of a Xation 

with the success of the experiment at Plymouth, 
"Mourt's Relation" having been published at Lon- 
don in 1622 and Winslow's ''Good Xeus from Xeiv 
England" in 1624, induced thousands of English 
Puritans to migrate to the New World. As a re- 
sult from twenty to thirty thousand persons from 
the well-to-do English middle classes sailed for New 
England between the years 1630 and 1640 that in 
peace and security they might worship God accord- 
ing to the dictates of their own consciences. 

These emigrants, unlike the Pilgrims, were not 
Separatists. They had no thought or intention of 
separating from the Church of England. They 
wished only to escape from the observances and re- 
strictions of the English Church that had proved 
obnoxious. Rev, Francis Higginson, afterwards 
pastor at Salem, on leaving England in 1629, said: 
''We will not say as the Separatists were wont to 
sav at their leaving Enorland, Farewell Babvlon ! 
Farewell Rome! But we will say, Farewell Dear 
England ! Farewell the Church of God in England, 
and all the Christian friends there ! We do not go 
to New England as Separatists from the Church of 
England; though we cannot but separate from the 
Corruptions in it : But we go to practice the posi- 
tive Part of Church Reformation, and propagate the 
Gospel in America." 

John Winthrop's company on leaving England in 
1630 took the pains to send from Yarmouth "Tlie 



The Swarming of the Puritans 295 

humble Request of his Majesty's loyal Subjects, the 
Governor and the Company late gone for New Eng- 
land; to the rest of their Brethren in and of the 
Church of England ; for the obtaining of the Prayers, 
for the removal of suspicions, and misconcep- 
tions of their Intentions" begging their fathers and 
brethren to take notice "of the principals and body 
of our Company, as those who esteem it our honor 
to call the Church of England from whence we rise, 
our dear Mother; and cannot part from our native 
country where she especially resideth, without much 
sadness of heart and many tears in our eyes, ever 
acknowledging that such hope and part as we have 
obtained in the common salvation we have received 
in her bosom, and sucked it from her breasts. We 
leave it not, therefore, as loathing that milk where- 
with we were nourished there; but, blessing God for 
the parentage and education as members of the 
same body, shall always rejoice in her good and un- 
feignedly grieve for any sorrow that shall ever betide 
her." 

The earliest attempt at a Puritan settlement was 
made on Cape Ann in 1623 by a little company of 
fishermen under the patronage of John White, a 
noted Puritan divine of Dorchester, England. A 
year or so later Roger Conant, an ardent Puritan, 
was sent over to superintend the enterprise. John 
Lyford after his expulsion from Plymouth made his 
way thither and was received as a minister. The 



296 The Builders of a Nation 

communit}', however, did not prosper and it soon was 
abandoned b}' the Dorchester Company, after which 
most of the settlers returned to England. Conant 
decided to remain. He wrote Mr. White that there 
was a better opportunity for a colony at Naumkeag, 
and suggested that it "might prove a receptacle for 
such as upon the account of religion would be will- 
ing to begin a foreign plantation in the New World." 
White promised to assist and those who had re- 
mained removed to Naumkeag. The rascally Ly- 
ford, pretending to have had a call from Virginia, 
persuaded most of the company to relinquish their 
purpose to remam and accompany him thither. A 
few remained with Conant who announced his in- 
tention of standing finn though all should forsake 
him. 

Through Wliite's efforts a patent was obtained 
from the Council of New England, under date of 
March 19, 1628, in accordance with which the Coun- 
cil "bargained and sold unto some knights and gen- 
tlemen about Dorchester, namely. Sir Henry Ros- 
well, Sir John Young, knights, Thomas Southcoat, 
John Humphrey, John Endicott and Simon Whit- 
comb, gentlemen, that part of New England lying 
between the Merrimac river and the Charles river 
on the Massachusetts Bay." Captain John Endicott 
was chosen governor of the new plantation and 
with his wife and about forty others sailed for New 
England, June 1st, on the Abigail, Henry Gauden, 



The Swarmmg of the Puritans 297 

master, arriving at Naumkeag on the 6th of Septem- 
ber, following. There were some differences at first 
with Conant's compaay, but these having been ami- 
cably adjusted, the name of the place was changed 
to Salem, meaning "peace." No sooner had these 
new settlers arrived than they began to die off as 
had the colonists at Plymouth. A messenger was 
dispatched to the latter place and Dr. Fuller, their 
physician, was sent to minister relief. He also took 
occasion to explain more fully the principles of the 
Pilgrim Church, of which more shall be said in a 
subsequent chapter. 

Endicott wrote back a favorable account of the 
voyage to New England and their impressions of 
the new country. As a consequence a number of 
men of social standing and competent estate be- 
came interested in the undertaking. The Company 
having been greatly enlarged by these men, a royal 
charter was granted, March 4, 1629, to the original 
patentees and twenty other persons under the title 
of the "Governor and Company of the Massachu- 
setts Bay in New England." The corporation thus 
formed was authorized to elect annually from their 
own number, a Governor, a Deputy Governor, and 
eighteen Assistants, and "they shall have full power 
and authority, and are hereby authorized by power 
derived from His Majesty's Letters Patent to make, 
order, and establish all manner of wholesome and 
reasonable orders, laws, statutes, ordinances, direc- 



298 The Builders of a Nation 

tions, and instructions not contrary to the laws of 
the realm of England ; a copy of which orders from 
time to time shall be sent to the Company in Eng- 
land." The Company was to meet four times a year, 
or oftener if occasion required, while the Governor, 
Deputy, and Assistants were to meet once a month. 
Matthew Cradock was elected Governor, and one of 
the first steps taken by the corporation was the crea- 
tion of a government for the colony itself, consisting 
of a Governor (Captain Endicott being retained), a 
Deputy Governor, and twelve Counsellors, three of 
whom were to be chosen by the planters whom Endi- 
cott had found in the colony on his arrival. Pro- 
vision was made for the allotment of land to the 
shareholders, each of whom was to receive two hun- 
dred acres for each £50 invested. If he went over 
to the colony he was to have in addition fifty acres 
for himself and fifty acres for each member of his 
family. Emigrants, not shareholders, were to be 
allotted fifty acres, and fifty acres additional for 
every servant exported ; the Governor and Council 
being empowered to grant more land to such emi- 
grants "according to their charge and quality." 

Soon after the issuance of this charter extensive 
re-inforcements were sent to the colony in New Eng- 
land. Six vessels were gotten ready and a license 
was procured from the Lord Treasurer for the em- 
barkation of "eighty women and maids, twenty-six 
children, and three hundred men, with victuals, arms. 



The Swarming of the Puritans 299 

and tools, and necessary apparel," besides "one 
hundred and forty head of cattle, and forty goats." 
Four ministers accompanied the expedition, Francis 
Bright, Francis Higginson, Samuel Skelton, all or- 
dained clergymen of the Church of England, and 
Ralph Smith, a Separatist. When the views of the 
latter became known it came near costing him his 
passage, but finally he was permitted to sail with 
the company, orders being sent to Endicott "unless 
he will be conformable to our government, you suffer 
him not to remain within the limits of our grant." 
He did not long remain, however, soon going to Nan- 
tasket, and thence, as we have already learned, to 
Plymouth, where he became the pastor of the Pilgrim 
Church. 

Of conditions in the new world Higginson wrote 
back: "When first we came to Naumkeag, we found 
about half a score houses, and a fair house newly 
built for the Governor. We found also abundance 
of com planted by them, very good and well-liking. 
And we brought with us about two hundred pas- 
sengers and planters more, which by common con- 
sent of the old planters, were all combined together 
into one body politic, under the same governor. . . . 
But that which is our greatest comfort and means 
of defence above all others is, that we have here the 
true religion and holy ordinances of Almighty God 
tauglit among us. Thanks be to God, we have here 
plenty of preaching and diligent catechizing, with 



300 The Builders of a Nation 

strict and careful exercise and good and commend- 
able orders to bring our people into a Christian con- 
versation with whom we have to do withal. And thus 
we doubt not but God ^Wll be with us ; and if God 
be with us, who can be against us?" 

Within four weeks after their arrival the Salem 
planters proceeded to organize themselves into a 
church, Samuel Skelton being chosen pastor, and 
Francis Higginson teacher, "every fit member vot- 
ing." "Mr. Higginson, with three or four of the 
gravest members of the church laid their hands on 
Mr. Skelton, using prayer therewith. This being 
done, there was imposition of hands on Mr. Higgin- 
son also." The following covenant was adopted: 
"We Covenant with the Lord and one mth an other; 
and do bind ourselves in the presence of God, to 
walk together in his ways, according as he is pleased 
to reveal himself unto us in his Blessed word of 
truth." An elder and two deacons were nominated, 
but their election was deferred for the reason that 
other able men might be sent over from England 
from whom a choice might be made. 

A step of far-reaching consequence in the colo- 
nization of Massachusetts was taken at the meeting 
of the Governor and Assistants of the Massachusetts 
Company on July 28th, 1629, when it was proposed 
by Matthew Cradock, the Governor of the Company, 
that in order to induce persons of worth and quality 
to emigrate with their families to the settlement and 



The Swarming of the Puritans 301 

for other weighty reasons it was expedient to "trans- 
fer the government of the plantation to those that 
shall inhabit, and not continue the same in sub- 
ordination to the Company here as it now is." Ac- 
tion upon this matter was postponed until the next 
meeting on August 29th. In the meanwhile, twelve 
of their number, including Sir Richard Saltonstall, 
John Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, and Isaac John- 
son, held a private meeting at Cambridge, when they 
agreed to be ready by March 1st to embark with 
their families for New England, provided that the 
government of the plantation's patent be transferred 
to those who should inhabit the same. At the meet- 
ing on August 29th an order to that effect was 
drawn up and exexcuted. As Cradock was not going 
out, at the meeting on October 20th John Winthrop 
was chosen governor for the ensuing year. 

On March 23, 1630, Winthrop and his associates 
set sail from Southampton in the Arbella and three 
other vessels. Two others had preceded them in 
February and March, while ten other vessels fol- 
lowed in May and June. Winthrop and his company 
"found the colony in a sad and unexpected condi- 
tion, above eighty of them being dead the winter 
before, and many of those alive being weak and sick, 
all the corn and bread amongst them all hardly suf- 
ficient to feed them a fortnight." The new settlers 
were obliged therefore to feed the planters as well 
as themselves. Salem did not appear to be a suit- 



302 The Builders of a Nation 

able place for the capital of the colony, so Win- 
throp located first at Charlestowai, while others set- 
tled at Medford, Watertown, Roxbury, and Dor- 
chester, where a company sent out by Rev. John 
White had located and organized a church a few 
weeks pre^^ousl3^ 

On July 30, 1630, a church was organized at 
Charlestown by Governor Winthrop, Isaac Johnson, 
Thomas Dudley, and Rev. John Wilson, with the fol- 
lowing covenant : 

"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in 
Obedience to His holy will and Divine Ordinance, 

"We whose names are hereunder written, being by 
His most wise, and good Providence brought to- 
gether into this part of America in the Bay of Mas- 
sachusetts, and desirous to unite ourselves into one 
Congregation, or Church, under the Lord Jesus 
Christ our Head, in such sort as becometh all those 
whom He hath Redeemed, and Sanctified to Himself, 
do hereby solemnly, and religiously (as in His most 
holy Presence) Promise, and bind ourselves, to walk 
in all our ways according to the Rule of the Gospel, 
and in all sincere Conformity to His holy Ordi- 
nances, and in mutual love, and respect each to 
other, so near as God shall give us grace." 

On August 23rd, officers were installed as follows: 
Teacher, John Wilson ; Ruling Elder, Increase Now- 
ell ; Deacons, William Gager and William Aspin- 
wall. These men were set apart by imposition of 



The Swarming of the Puritans 303 

hands but as Winthrop tells us "with this protesta- 
tion by all, that it was only a sign of election and 
confinnation, not of any intent that Mr. Wilson 
should renounce his ministry he received in Eng- 
land." 

Winthrop soon removed to Boston, which became 
the capital of the colony. The first year proved a 
trying one. In the early autumn Lady Arbella 
Johnson, sister to the Earl of Lincoln, and her hus- 
band Isaac, two of the chief promoters of the colony 
passed awa}'. Between April and December it was 
estimated that two hundred of the new-comers had 
died. About a hundred returned to England, but 
for the most part the colonists remained undaunted. 
Winthrop writing to his wife said: "The Lord is 
pleased to humble us ; yet He mixes so many mercies 
with His corrections, as we are persuaded He will 
not cast us oif, but in His due time will do us good, 
according to the measure of our afflictions. . . . We 
may not look at great things here. It is enough that 
we shall have heaven, though we should pass through 
hell to it. We here enjoy God and Jesus Christ. Is 
not this enough.'' I do not repent my coming; and if 
I were to come again, I would not have altered my 
course, though I had foreseen all these afflictions." 

At first the Governor and his Assistants consti- 
tuted the only government in the colony. In October, 
1630, it was decided that in this Body should be 
vested the making of laws and the election of the 



304 The Builders of a Nation 

Governor. Seven months later it was further de- 
cided that the Assistants need not be elected each 
year but should hold office during good behavior, or 
until they were removed by a special vote of the 
freemen. In 1632 as a result of a protest from 
Watertown against paying a tax for fortifications 
at Newtown, it was decided that the Governor and 
his Assistants should be elected by the whole body 
of freemen, and that two deputies from "every plan- 
tation" should "confer with the Court about raising 
a public stock." Two years later it was enacted 
that two or three deputies should be chosen by the 
freemen of each town, who should represent them 
"in the public affairs of the Commonwealth" in the 
making and establishment of laws, granting lands, 
and all other matters of public interest except the 
election of Magistrates and other officers "wherein 
every freeman is to give his own voice." For some 
years the Assistants and Deputies met and voted to- 
gether, but differences having arisen it was decided 
to meet separately, each body having a veto upon 
the other. 

The Puritans were coming over to New England 
in such numbers that by 1634 nearly four thousand 
had landed in Massachusetts and some twenty vil- 
lages had been established on or near the shores of 
the Bay. As early as 1634 a few persons from 
Watertown had begun a settlement at Wethersfield 
in Connecticut. In the autumn of the following year 



The Swarmmg of tJie Puritans 305 

a company from Roxbury and Watertown with their 
goods and cattle migrated westward and made the 
beginnings of a settlement at Windsor, but winter 
coming on before their houses were completed many 
perished from the cold, others returned, while only 
a few were sufficiently resolute to remain. In 1636 
the Newtown congregation under the leadership of 
their pastor, Thomas Hooker, settled at Hartford. 
By May, 1637, 800 persons were living in Wethers- 
field, Windsor, and Hartford. At the first meeting 
of the General Court of Connecticut, in 1638, Hook- 
er preached a sermon in which he laid down the fol- 
lowing principles : "I. That the choice of public 
magistrates belongs unto the people by God's own 
allowance. II. The privilege of election, which be- 
longs to the people, therefore must not be exercised 
according to their humors, but according to the 
blessed will and law of God. III. They who have 
the power to appoint officers and magistrates, it is in 
their power, also, to set the bounds and limitations 
of the power and place unto which they call them." 
These principles were soon after embodied in the 
Constitution of Connecticut, which was the first 
written constitution ever adopted that created a 
government. 

The early settlers of Connecticut were harassed 
and threatened by the Pequot Indians. A Wethers- 
field man was taken and roasted alive. Ten others 
were massacred and two girls were carried away cap- 



306 The Builders of a Nation 

tive. Massachusetts and Plymouth were appealed 
to for assistance. Before the latter could respond, 
seventy-seven men from Connecticut and Massachu- 
setts, under Captains Mason and Underhill with the 
co-operation of four or five hundred Mohegan, Nar- 
ragansett, and Niantic Indians made a night attack, 
May 20, 1637, upon a walled or fortified village con- 
taining several hundred Pequot Indians. The wig- 
wams within were fired and the Indians were prac- 
tically exterminated, only two of the whites being 
killed. This horrible victory put such a fear of the 
English into the hearts of the natives that peace be- 
tween the two races continued years afterwards. 

In April, 1638, New Haven was settled by John 
Davenport with a company of Puritans from Lon- 
don, Hereford, Kent, and elsewhere in England. 
Other settlements were founded and in 1639 a theoc- 
racy was set up, the landed-proprietors voting that 
the "Scriptures do hold forth a perfect rule for the 
direction and government of all men in all duties 
which they are to perform to God and men as well in 
the government of families and commonwealths as 
in matters of the church." They pledged themselves 
to be governed by biblical rules in the organization 
of their church and in the "choice of magistrates and 
oflicers, making and repealing of laws, dividing al- 
lotments of inheritance and all things of Hke na- 
ture." In 1662, the New Haven Colony was incor- 



The Swarmvng of the Puritans 307 

poratcd with Connecticut, when the latter received 
a royal charter. 

For a dozen years the Puritan immigration into 
New England continued at high tide, notwithstand- 
ing efforts wliich were made in England to annul the 
charter of Massachusetts. In 1634 a number of 
ships, ready to sail, were detained in the Thames by 
an Order in Council on the ground that "the fre- 
quent transportation of great numbers of his 
Majesty's subjects out of this kingdom to the plan- 
tation called New England, amongst whom divers 
persons known to be ill-affected, discontented not 
only with civil but ecclesiastical government here, 
are observed to resort thither, whereby such con- 
' fusion and distraction is already grown there, espe- 
1 cially in point of religion, as, beside the ruin of the 
I said plantation, cannot but highly tend to the scan- 
' dal both of church and state there." 
j A year later, Mr. Cradock, who had informed the 
I Privy Council that the charter of the colony had 
j been transported to Massachusetts, was ordered to 
produce the same that the proceedings of the colony 
might be compared with the charter. He, therefore, 
sent a request to Governor Dudley to forward the 
same to England, but the latter replied that he could 
not do so without an order from the General Court 
which would meet the following September. In the 
meanwhile Mr. Edward Winslow of Plymouth was 



308 The Builders of a Nation 

sent to England to intercede on behalf of the colo- 
nists of Massachusetts Bay. For speaking at Sepa- 
ratist meetings, at the instigation of Archbishop 
Laud he was sent to the Fleet and kept in confine-B! 
ment for seventeen weeks. 

Proceedings against the colony being renewed, the 
alarming report reached Boston that the charter 
was about to be declared void and a royal governor 
sent over to rule the colony. The citizens of Boston 
determined upon anned resistance. Orders were is- 
sued to erect fortifications on Castle Island and at 
Charlestown and Dorchester. The Governor was 
appealed to and orders were given for training 
militia companies and supplying them with proper 
arms. A beacon was set up on Beacon Hill at Bos- 
ton to give notice to the surrounding country of the 
approach of an enemy. 

In 1637 the worst fears of the colonists were real- 
ized. Quo warranto proceedings were instituted 
against their charter and Sir Ferdinando Gorges, an 
enemy of the Puritans, was appointed royal gover- 
nor. The colony, however, was preserved from royal 
interference by the trend which events were taking 
in England. The issuance of the writ of ship-money 
aroused all England, while the attempt to introduce 
the Episcopal liturgy in St. Giles' Church, Edin- 
burgh, resulted in the Solemn League and Covenant. 
Events were shaping, b}' which Charles I was not 
only to lose his throne but his head, and proceedings 



The Swarming of the Puritcms 309 

against Massachusetts were dropped. The triumph 
of the Parliamentary Party brought an end to the 
Puritan emigration, however, for having secured 
their liberties at home there was no especial reason 
why they should seek a home across the seas, so that 
after 1640 the English emigration to the new world 
for the time being almost wholly ceased. 



CHAPTEB, XIV 

THE MERGING OF PILGRIMS AND 
PURITANS 

The Pilgrims were Separatists who looked upon 
the Church of England as a corrupt if not an apos- 
tate church. The Puritans had no thought of sepa- 
rating from the church of their fathers. They 
sought only to purify the church of its corruptions 
and all that savored of Romanism. John Robinson, 
who with the flight of the years had grown more tol- 
erant towards those who differed with the Separa- 
tists, in his farewell address to the Pilgrims on their 
departure to the new world, had said : "there will be 
no difference between the unconformable Ministers 
and you; when they come to the practice of the 
Ordinances out of the kingdom." He advised them 
"rather to study union than division, viz.: How 
near we might possibly, without sin, close with them 
(viz.: the Puritans); than in the least measure, to 
affect division or separation from them." 

Scarcely had the first Puritan settlement at Salem 
been planted when a serious epidemic caused Gover- 
nor Endicott, who understood that the Pilgrims had 

310 



The Merging of Pilgrims and Puritans 311 

a physician "who had some skill that way, and had 
cured divers of the scurvy, and others of other dis- 
eases, by letting blood and other means" to write 
asking for help. Dr. Fuller, who was also a deacon 
in the church at Plymouth, was accordingly dis- 
patched to them, and not only ministered to their 
physical infirmities, but he explained the principles 
of the church at Plymouth so clearly and satisfac- 
torily that the Puritans at Salem organized their 
church upon the same basis. When other commu- 
nities were planted and churches were organized 
they followed the Congregational model of the Pil- 
grims rather than the Presbyterian system of John 
Calvin, to whose teachings in other respects both the 
Pilgrims and Puritans adhered. 

In grateful recognition of the services of Dr. Full- 
er, Governor Endicott wrote to Governor Bradford : 
"It is a thing not usual, that servants to one master 
and of the same household should be strangers ; I as- 

( sure you I desire it not, nay, to speak more plainly, I 
cannot be so to you. God's people are all marked 
with one and the same mark, and sealed with one and 

' the same seal, and have for the main, one and the 
same heart, guided by one and the same spirit of 
truth; and where tliis is, there can be no discord, 
nay, here must needs be sweet harmony. ... I ac- 
knowledge myself much bound to you for your kind 
love and care in sending Mr. Fuller among us, and 
rejoice much that I am by him satisfied touching 



312 The Builders of a Nation 

your judgments of the outward form of God's wor- 
ship. It is, as far as I can yet gather, no other than is 
warranted by the evidence of truth, and the same 
which I have professed and maintained ever since 
the Lord in mercy revealed himself unto me; being 
far from the common repoi^t that has been spread 
of you toucliing that particular." 

When the church at Salem was organized they 
proceeded upon the Plymouth basis. Charles Gott 
writing to Governor Bradford, under date of July 
30, 1629, said: "The 20th of July, it pleased the 
Lord to move the heart of our Governor to set it 
apart for a solemn day of himiiliation for the choice 
of a pastor and teacher. The former part of the day 
being spent in prayer and teaching, the latter part 
about the election, which was after this manner. 
The persons thought on (who had been ministers in 
England) were demanded concerning their callings; 
they acknowledged there was a twofold calling, the 
one an inward calling, when the Lord moved the 
heart of a man to take that calling upon him, and 
fitted him with gifts for the same; the second was 
an outward calling, which was from the people, when 
a company of believers are joined together in cov- 
enant, to walk together in all the ways of God, and 
every member (being men) are to have a free voice 
in the choice of their officers, etc. Now, we being 
persuaded that these two men were so qualified, . . . 
we saw no reason but we might freely give our 



The Merging of Pilgrims and Puritans 313 

voices for their election after this trial. So Mr. 
Skelton was chosen pastor, and Mr. Higginson to be 
teacher; . . . And now, good sir, I hope that you 
and the rest of God's people (who are acquainted 
with the ways of God) with you, will say that here 
was a right foundation laid, and that these two 
blessed servants of the Lord came in at the door, and 
not at the window." 

August 6th being "appointed for another day of 
humiliation for the choice of elders and deacons, and 
ordaining of them," Mr. Higginson drew up a cov- 
enant to which the members gave their assent, after 
which they proceeded to the ordination of the of- 
ficers. Governor Bradford and others from Plymouth 
were invited to attend this function, but they "com- 
ing by sea were hindered by cross winds that they 
could not be there at the beginning of the day, but 
they came into the assembly afterward and gave 
them the right hand of fellowsliip, wishing all pros- 
perity and a blessed success unto such good begin- 
nings." The Plymouth Church, therefore, was a 
determining factor in shaping the polity of the New 
England Churches. In 1644 Rathband, in his 
"Brief Narration of Some Church Courses, etc.," 
wrote that he had been told by "Mr. W.,* an emi- 

* Probably Edward Winslow, who in his "Hypocrisy Un- 
masked" (1646), said that the Church at Plymouth, when 
consulted by the new-comers gave its warrant "from the book 
of God" for every point in its practice. "Which being by 
them well weighed and considered, they also entered into 



314 The Builders of a Nation 

nent man of the Church at Plymouth . . . that the 
rest of the Churches in New England came at first to 
tliem at Plymouth to crave their direction in Church 
courses, and made them their pattern." 

Governor Winthrop, who with Rev. John Wilson of 
Boston and others visited Plymouth in 1632, gave a 
brief but graphic account of the church service 
which was held on that occasion, which also sheds 
an interesting light on the spirit of fellowship then 
manifested between the Pilgrims and Puritans : "On 
the Lord's day there was a sacrament, which they 
did partake in; and in the afteraoon, Mr. Roger 
Williams, (according to their custom) propounded 
a question, to which the pastor, Mr. Smith, spake 
briefly ; then Mr. Williams prophesied ; and after 
the Governor of Plymouth spake to the question ; 
after him the Elder; then some two or three more 
of the congregation. Then the Elder desired the 
Governor of Massachusetts and Mr. Wilson to speak 
to it, which they did. When this was ended, the 
Deacon, Mr. Fuller, put the congregation in mind 
of their duty of contribution; whereupon the Gov- 
ernor and all the rest went down to the deacon's seat, 
and put into the box, and then returned." 

Although the churches of Massachusetts were or- 
ganized upon the Plymouth model, thus drawing Pil- 

covenant with God and one another to walk in all his ways 
revealed or as they should be made known unto theni, and 
to worship him according to his will revealed in his written 
word only, etc." 



The Merging of Pilgrims and PuHtans 315 

grims and Puritans together in the bonds of Chris- 
tian fellowship, we must not infer that all the dif- 
ferences and distinctions were straightway obliter- 
ated. While the Puritans were quite ready to adopt 
the Congregational principle in the formation of 
their churches, unlike the Pilgrims they persisted in 
maintaining the union of church and state to which 
they had been accustomed in the mother country. 

In 1631 the General Court of Massachusetts en- 
acted "that for time to come no man shall be ad- 
mitted to the freedom of this body politic, but such 
as are members of some of the churches within the 
limits of the same." Four years later it was en- 
acted further "that no person, being a member of 
any church which shall hereafter be gathered with- 
out the approbation of the magistrates, shall be ad- 
mitted to the freedom of this commonwealth." In 
other words, membery of churches, and only such 
churches as were established by law, were eligible 
to citizenship. In 1638 a law was passed requiring 
freemen to contribute to the support of the churches. 
It was this union of church and state that led to 
those acts of intolerance for which the descendants 
of the Puritans are compelled to make apology to 
this day. 

Through persecution and suffering the Pilgrims 
had learned tolerance. In the Mayflower Compact 
no religious test was adopted. By a late law, 1671, 
those receiving the franchise were required to be of 



S16 The BuihUrs of a Xatiom 

">olx?r and peaceable oonversAtion. orthodox in the 
fundamentab of relio^on" but church membership 
never wa> made a requisite to citizenship. Mvles 
Standish. a leading citizen and the commander of 
their military forces, was never a member of the 
church at Plymouth, and by some he is thought to 
have been a Roman Catholic. Lyford made the ac- 
cusation **that the church have none but themselves 
and separatists to live here," to which Governor 
Bradford replied ''They are willing and desirous 
that any honest men may live with them, that will 
carry th«nselves peaceably, and seek the common 
good, or at least do them no hurt." Lyford and 
Oldham were expelled, not upon religious grounds, 
but because they were conspiring against the com- 
monwealth. In 1645 a majority of the House of 
Dd^ates was in favor of a proposition **for a full 
and free toleration of religion to all men without ex- 
ception against Turk, Jew, Papist, Socinian, Fami- 
Hst, or any other.'* Through the refusal of the 
governor to put the question it failed of enactment. 
In 1664 Plymouth was visited by the Royal Commis- 
sioners who had come thence from Boston. They 
recommended that all of orthodox opinion and civil 
life be admitted to the Lord's Supper and their 
children to baptism. To this the reply was made, 
that none were forbidden to observe such worship 
as they preferred, but imtil the institution of soioe 



Thi" Merging of PUgrims ami Puritans 317 

roiTiihir worsliip of their own tla\v should attend and 
support the churches ulready in existence. 

These principles of religious toleration, tlie Pil- 
grims ever consistently maintained. Roger Wil- 
liams was exiled by the authorities of jMassachusetts 
Bay, but prior to that he iiad served as an assistant 
to the pastor at Plymouth, where he was kindly 
treated and charitably spoken of, although regarded 
as a man "very unsettled in judgment." When Mrs. 
Hutchinson was banished from INIassachusetts for 
Antinomianisni, she was permitted to settle at 
Anuidneck in the bounds of the Plymouth patent, al- 
though the colonists did not approve of her teach- 
ings. The Baptists, who were persecuted in Massa- 
chusetts, were tolerated in the Pilgrim colony. On 
account of his antipedobaptist views, Henry Dunster 
was forced to resign the presidency of Harvard Col- 
lege in 1654 but he was permitted to accept the pas- 
torate of the church at Scituate in Plymouth Col- 
ony, where he remained until his death in 1()59. The 
first Baptist church organized in Wales emigrated to 
Rehoboth in Plymouth Colony, but in July, 1667, the 
General Court decreed that "their continuance at 
Rehoboth, being very prejudicial to the peace of 
tiiat church and that tovra, may not be allowed; . . . 
Yet in case they shall remove their meeting unto 
some other place, where they may not prejudice any 
other church, and shall give us any reasonable satis- 



318 The Builders of a Nation 

faction respecting their principles, we do not know- 
but thev niJiy bo permitted by this government so to 
do.** The church thereupon removetl to Swansea, 
where it was not only permitted to dwell in peace but 
was placetl on an eijual footing with the other 
churches of the colony.* Through the iniluence of 
Massachusetts restrictive laws were passeii against 
the Quakei-s, but these were opposed by many of 
the leading citizens, especially the early settlers, and 
were never rigorously enforced. The first Quaker 
**meetings" or churches established in America were 
in Plymouth Colony, at Sandwich and Scituate, botli 
of which were organized before 1()60. The blood of 
no martyr ever stained the fair name of Plymouth. 
During the witchcraft delusion which swept over 
New England the death penalty was enacted, but 
only two persons were ever brought to trial and after 
examination the cases against them were dismissed. 
The Pilgrims left behind them an honored record of 
religious toleration, showing tliat they were not only 
far in advance of the age in which they lived, but 
were animated by the broadest spirit of Christian 
charity. 

* As an evidence of how far the rilgrini5 were in advance 
of tlie spirit of their time, mention need only Im? made of the 
fact that more than one hundred years later, on the eve of 
tlie Americ;ui Revolution. James Maiiist^n was stirred to in- 
dignation on seeing a Baptist minister in jail, wliere he had 
long been confined for the crime of preaching the gospel, 
it l>eing unlawful at that time for any jvrson not an Episci>pal 
clergyman to conduct a religious service in Virginia ! 



The Merging of Pilgrims and Piiritcms 319 

It wtts otherwise in the Puritan Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts Bay. As early as 1629, two brothers 
by the name of Browne had refused to fellowship with 
the churcli at Salem, and had gathered a company 
to worship according to the Book of Common Pray- 
er, for which they were charged with mutiny and 
sedition, and were sent back to England as criminals. 
In 1631, Philip RatlifF, after being fined forty 
pounds and having had his ears cut off, was banished 
for "uttering malicious and scandalous speeches 
against the government and church of Salem.'* 

In 1635 Roger Williams, pastor of the church at 
Salem, was banished because he insisted that the 
civil authorities were without authority in religious 
matters, that the oath to obey the laws of the colony 
could not be taken by an unregeneratc person, that 
it was a sin to listen to ministers of the Church of 
FjHgland, and that the Royal Charter was null and 
void because the king could give the colonists no 
right to the soil since it belonged to the Indians, 
and repentance, therefore, should be made for having 
accepted a charter from the king. Roger Williams 
was banished not so much for conscience's sake, but 
because his seditious views were likely to bring the 
colonists into conflict with the royal authorities. He 
was inclined, moreover, to be contentious. On going 
to Boston he refused to have communion with the 
church because its members did not publicly repent 
for once having been connected with the Established 



320 The Buii^iers of a Xation 

Church in Enghmd. While his sentence of banish- 
ment was being deferred on account of the inclem- 
ency of the season, he refused to have prayers with 
his wife because she did not choose to separate her- 
self from the church of wliich he had lately been 
pastor at Salom. After going to Rhode Island he 
embraced Baptist views, but within a short time 
separated himself from the Baptist church which he 
had organized. In view of all of the circumstances 
it is not strange, perhaps, that the Massachusetts 
authorities should have insisted upon his separation 
from them for the peace and welfare of the com- 
monwealth. 

In 1637 Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, a woman of some 
ability and considerable personal magnetism, who 
liad secured quite a following in Boston, including a 
number of influential persons, was banished because 
she tauglit that the person of the Holy Ghost dwells 
in a justified person, and that no amount of good 
works is to be taken as an evidence of justification. 

Owing to differences of opinion which had origi- 
nated through the propagation of inmiersionist 
views, the General Court of Massachusetts, in 16-44, 
passed an ordinance subjecting to banishment all 
who should "openly condemn or oppose the baptism 
of infants, or go al>out secretly to seduce others 
from the approbation or use thereof* and should 
"obstinately continue therein." In 1646 a law was 
passed defining heresy and condemning to banish- 



The Merging of Pilgrims ami Puritans 321 

ment all who were convicted of the same. In 1647 
the Jesuits were forbidden to enter the colony. 
Those who came were to be banished, and if they re- 
turned they should be sentenced to death. 

In 1656 two Quaker women arrived in Boston 
from the Island of Barbadoes. After an imprison- 
ment of five weeks they were sent back to the place 
whence tiiev had come. Soon after eight other 
Quakers arrived from London and they too were 
imprisoned. Laws were soon enacted banishing mem- 
bers of this sect. The Quakers, continuing to come, 
were treated Avith increasing severity. At first a 
Quaker returning after banishment was to be flogged 
and sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor. For 
a second offence his ears were to be cut off, and if 
he returned a third time his tongue was to be bored 
with a red-hot iron. Finally in 1658 a law was 
passed sentencing to death those who persisted in 
returning after they had been banished. Under this 
law four Quakers were hanged upon Boston Com- 
mon — Marmaduke Stevenson and William Robinson 
in 1659, Mary Dyer in 1660, and William Leddra in 
1661. It must not be supposed that these iniquitous 
laws met with general approbation. Many were op- 
posed to them, and the law providing for capital 
punishment passed tlie lower house by a majority 
of only one vote. The bill would have failed entirely 
but for an illness which prevented the presence of 
one of the members opposed to the bill. Those who 



322 The Builders of a Nat ion 

were put to death were offered their liberty if they 
■would only leave the colony, but they chose rather 
to give their lives as a witness against an unright- 
eous law. 

The very severity of these measures served as its 
own corrective. The execution of the Quakers re- 
sulted in such a revulsion of public sentiment that 
the law making it a capital offence for them to re- 
turn after banishment was suspended in 1661, al- 
though for several years public whippings, fines and 
other punishments were inflicted upon the members 
of this sect. There could be no justification for such 
severely restrictive measures, and the treatment of 
the Quakers in Massachusetts constitutes a dark 
chapter in Puritan history which neither time nor 
apology can erase. 

Gradually the barriers of religious intolerance 
were broken down. The persecution of the Quakers 
was the last attempt to control religious opinion by 
force. In 1665 a law was passed conferring the right 
of suffrage upon all Englishmen who could produce 
certificates from clergymen to the effect that they 
Mere orthodox in belief and were not vicious in life. 
The Charter granted by William and Mary, in 1692, 
decreed that "forever hereafter there shall be liberty 
of conscience allowed, in the worship of God to all 
Christians (except Papists)." It was only by a 
long, slow, and painful process, however, that the 
Puritans of Massachusetts Bay came to those prin- 



The Merging of PUgrivu and Puritans 323 

ciples of religious toleration, which at the first had 
been practiced at Plymouth. 

Notwithstanding the sharp differences which had 
distinguished them, the Puritans and Pilgrims had 
been drawn together in the bonds of Christian fel- 
lowship. In 1643 thev were brought into even closer 
relations in a confederation of the colonies of Mas- 
sachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven 
which was called the United Colonies of New Eng- 
land. Commissioners from these four colonies met at 
Boston in May, and agreed upon Articles of Con- 
federation. The reasons for this union were the 
conmion aims of the constituent colonies: their scat- 
tered settlements : the surrounding colonies, more- 
over, consisting of "people of several nations and 
strange languages" who might prove injurious to 
them and their posterity: the perils to which they 
were exposed from the natives who had "formerly 
committed sundry insolencies and outrages upon sev- 
eral plantations of the English, and have of late 
combined against us:" as well as "those distractions 
in England" which added to the general weakness 
of the colonies. *Tor themselves and their pos- 
terity" it was agreed "jointly and severally" to "en- 
ter into a firm and perpetual league of friendship 
and amity, for offence and defence, mutual advice 
and succor upon all just occasions, both for preserv- 
ing and propagating the truth of the Gospel, and 
for their own mutual safety and welfare." 



SM The Builders of a Nation 

The Articles of Confederation provided for the 
appointment of two Commissioners from each of the 
four colonies. Tliese Commissioners were to meet 
once a year, or oftener if extraordinary occasion de- 
manded. In case the eight Commissioners did not 
agree, then if six of the eight were of the same mind 
they were empowered "to settle and determine the 
business in question." But if six could not agree 
then the matter was to be referred to the four gen- 
eral courts of the colonies, and if they decided upon 
united action, it was to be "prosecuted by the con- 
federates, and all their members." 

The Conmiissioners were authorized "to hear, ex- 
amine, weigh, and determine all aifairs of war, or 
peace, leagues, aids, charges, and numbers of men 
for war, divisions of spoils, and wliatsoever is gotten 
by conquest ; receiving of more confederates, or 
plantations into combination with any of the con- 
federates, and all things of like nature." The 
"charge of all just wars — in men, provisions, and 
all other disbursements" was to be borne by each 
colony in proportion to the number of males be- 
tween sixteen and sixty years of age, and that "ac- 
cording to their different charge of each jurisdiction 
and plantation, the whole advantage of the war, (if 
it please God to bless their endeavors,) whether it be 
in lands, goods, or persons, shall be proportionably 
divided among the said confederates." Massachu- 



The Merging of PUgrhns aTid Puritans 325 

setts being the larger colony, was to furnish one hun- 
dred men "sufficiently armed and provided for such 
a service and journey, and each of the rest forty- 
five so armed and provided, or any lesser number, if 
less be required according to this proportion." If 
one of the colonies were endangered it might call up- 
on its nearest neighbor for assistance but in case of 
grave danger the entire forces of the United Colonies 
could be called out. Provision was also made for 
the extradition of fugitives from justice who had fled 
from one colony into another. 

This Confederation served a very useful purpose 
as a mediator in disputes with the Swedes of Dela- 
ware, with the Dutch of New Amsterdam, and in de- 
termining the relative merits of the claims of certain 
French traders in the North. At the second meet- 
ing of the Commissioners, in 1644, they "com- 
mended to the several General Courts, as a matter 
worthy of due consideration and entertainment, the 
maintenance of poor scholars at the College at Cam- 
bridge," and approved a plan for "every family, 
able and willing to give, throughout the plantations, 
to give yearly towards that object but the fourth 
part of a bushel of corn, or something equivalent 
thereunto." This College was founded in 1636, when 
the General Court of Massachusetts voted to give 
£400 in two annual installments towards a school or 
college. Two years later John Harvard died at 



326 The Builders of a Nation 

Charlestown, bequeathing his library and one-half of 
his estate to the institution, which in his honor was 
named Harvard College. 

Disputes having arisen between the Mohegans and 
Narragansetts as the result of differences occasioned 
by the settlement of the Pequot war, which threat- 
ened to involve the colonies in hostilities with the 
natives, the sachems of the Narragansett and Nian- 
tic Indians were summoned before an extraordinary 
session of the Commissioners at Boston in 1645, and 
they agreed to a "firm and perpetual peace, both 
with all of the English of the United Colonies and 
their successors, and with Uncas, the Mohegan sa- 
chem, and his men, . . . and all other Indian Saga- 
mores and their companies, who were in friendship 
with, or subject to, any of the English." A tribute 
of "two thousand fathom of good white wampum" in 
four installments was exacted and four children of 
their chiefs were left as hostages for the execution 
of this compact. In subsequent years much of the 
Commissioners* time was consumed in questions relat- 
ing to the Indians, enforcing treaties, appointing 
governors, superintending the administration of 
justice, etc. 

In 1649, the Commissioners of the United Col- 
onies were authorized to disburse the monies col- 
lected by the "Society for Promoting and Propagat- 
ing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England." 
The evangelization of the natives was one of the de- 



The Merging of PUgrims and Puritans 327 

termining motives in planting the New England col- 
onies. On the great seal of Massachusetts was the 
figure of an Indian with the Macedonian inscription, 
"Come over and help us." The Plymouth colonists 
had come "with a great hope and inward zeal'* for 
"the propagating and advancing the gospel of the 
kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the 
world." Squanto, Hobomuk, and others influenced 
by the Pilgrims had embraced Christianity. ^Tien 
Winslow was returning from the sick-bed of Massa- 
soit he lodged over night with Corbitant, to whom he 
explained with other things the Ten Commandments, 
"all which," says Winslow, "they hearkened unto 
with great attention; and hke well of. Only the 
Seventh Commandment they excepted against ; 
thinking there were many inconveniences in it, that 
a man should be tied to one woman." In spite of in- 
dividual efforts, Indian missions languished among 
the Pilgrims, doubtless owing to the want of men 
and means. 

It was otherwise, however, in the larger and more 
prosperous colony of Massachusetts Bay, where ex- 
tensive Indian missions were carried on at Martha's 
Vineyard by the Mayhews, father and son, and at 
Xatick by Rev. Jolm Elliot, who translated the Bible 
into the Indian Tongue, The New Testament was 
published at Cambridge, Mass., in 1661, and the Old 
Testament in 1663. This was the first Bible printed 
in America. Other translations were made bv Elliot 



328 The Builders of a X at ion- 

— ''A Catechism," an "Indian Psalter," an "Indian 
Primer," Baxter's "Call," Baylev's "Practice of 
Piety," etc. Churches were organized among the 
natives and some hundreds were converted. Tliis 
work excited a deep interest in England. Edward 
^Vinslow of Plymouth published an address to "The 
Parliament of England and the Council of State" 
on its behalf, with the result that an Ordinance was 
passed in 16i9 creating the aforementioned "So- 
ciety for Promoting and Propagating the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ in New England." Several hundred 
pounds were collected annually in England and dis- 
bursed tlirough the Commissioners for the United 
Colonies. After the Restoration, the Society was 
re-organized with the assent of the king, the Com- 
missioners being made acquainted with the change 
and with the desire of the new corporation to con- 
tinue the work through their agency. 

Through their confederation the United Colonies 
were able to take concerted action during King Phil- 
ip's War. Philip was the son of Massasoit, whose 
treaty with the Pilgrims was faithfully kept for 
more than fifty years. After the death of his father 
Philip became estranged from the whites and began 
preparing for war. He succeeded in enlisting other 
tribes so that most of the natives in New England 
wore arrayed against the whites. Swansea was at- 
tacked June 20, 1675, several men. women, and chil- 
di'en beinc^ killed. The alarm was immediately 



The Merging of Pilgrims and Puritans 329 

spread throughout the colonies. Three hours after 
the tidings had reached Boston, a company of men, 
armed and equipped, was ready to set out for the 
[ndian country. By the following winter a thousand 
men from all parts of New England were in the 
field. A night attack was made upon a fort of the 
Narragansetts and seven hundred Indians were 
slain. By spring the natives were on the defensive. 
Philip became a fugitive, finally being overtaken in 
a Rhode Island swamp by Captain Church of Ply- 
mouth, and slain by one of his own race. The In- 
dians were defeated in this war and their power in 
New England was forever broken, but at terrible cost 
to the whites. Twelve towns were totally destroyed, 
while forty others were the scene of fire and slaugh- 
ter. One out of every twelve men of military age 
had met death at the hands of bloodthirsty savages, 
while the colonies had been brought to the very 
verge of bankruptcy through the debts which had 
been incurred. 

In various ways, through their church life and 
the action of the United Colonies, the Pilgrims and 
Puritans had been welded together into one people 
with common aims and interests. In 1684 the charter 
Df Massachusetts was abrogated, and two years 
later Sir Edmund Andros arrived in Boston as the 
Royal Governor. His tyrannical administration 
was hateful in tlie extreme but it ended with the 
overthrow of James II and he was sent in irons to 



330 The Builders of a Nation 

England. When a new charter was granted to 
Massachusetts in 1692, Plymouth Colony was 
merged therewith, ending forever its separate iden- 
tity and uniting its fortunes and interests with the 
larger Colony. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE INFLUENCE OF NEW ENGLAND IN 
THE MAKING OF THE NATION 

To no inconsiderable extent the character of a 
country is determined by its early settlers. Other 
elements subsequently may modify conditions, but 
in the main the principle holds good. Diverse ele- 
ments went into the making of the thirteen original 
colonies which united to form the American republic. 
New England was settled by the Pilgrims and Puri- 
tans. The Dutch founded New Amsterdam and 
mingled with the English in the colony of New York. 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey were colonized by 
Quakers who were persecuted in the mother country 
and cruelly treated by the authorities of Massa- 
chusetts Bay. To Pennsylvania also came Mennon- 
ites, Lutherans, members of the Reformed (German) 
Church, besides many other minor German sects. A 
colony of Swedish Lutherans settled in Delaware. 
Maryland was colonized by English Roman Cath- 
olics who came seeking the freedom of worship which 
had been denied them at home, ^'irginia and the 
South were settled largely by Cavaliers who came 

331 



33g The Builders of a Nation 

over in considerable numbers in the daj^s of Crom- 
well and the English Commonwealth. Many Scotch- 
Irish Presbyterians found a home in Pennsylvania, 
Virginia, and the South, whither came also many 
persecuted Huguenots from France. All of these 
colonists came to our shores in the quest of civil 
and religious freedom, and therefore are entitled to 
due credit for the part which they played in the 
making of the nation. Nevertheless, in the shaping 
of our national life and character, in determining 
our free institutions, our churches, schools and com- 
monwealths, and in the development of the North 
and West, the New England colonists proved to be 
the dominant factor. 

When the New Charter was granted by William 
and iNfary to INIassachusetts in 1692, portions only 
of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut 
had been settled. During the century that followed 
practically all of the territory now embraced within 
the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Mas- 
sachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, had been 
occupied, and the settlers of the new communities 
and commonwealths thus springing into existence, in 
the main were descendants of the Pilgrims and Puri- 
tans. In 1719 a hundred and twenty families of 
Scotch-Irish immigrants settled at Londonderry, 
New Hampshire, Considerable numbers of Scotch- 
Irish also settled in Maine and other parts of New 
England. A few French Huguenots came to New 



New England in tlie Makmg of the Nation 333 

Hampshire, but for the most part these States were 
settled bj the old Pilgrim and Puritan stock. Tliis 
was true likewise of Vermont, whither came many 
from Connecticut and the western half of Massa- 
chusetts. In fact so largely was Vermont settled 
by Connecticut people that at one time it was com- 
mon to speak of it as New Connecticut. 

Prior to the Revolution nearly all of Long Island 
had been occupied by New England people, who also 
had made settlements at Woodbridge, Newark, Eliza- 
beth, Middletown, and elsewhere in New Jersey. To 
Eastern and Southeastern New York, especially to 
Westchester, Dutchess, and Putnam Counties, con- 
siderable numbers of sturdy New Englanders came 
to build homes and establish communities. The first 
settlement in Delaware County, then far to the west 
of the Hudson River, was established at Cherry 
Valley in 1741, by Scotch-Irish from Londonderry, 
New Hampshire. Four or five years later Orange 
County was settled by Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
and Long Island people. Northwestern Pennsyl- 
vania, and the Wyoming Valley, the scene of the ter- 
rible Indian massacre during the Revolution, were 
occupied by settlers from Connecticut. 

Even in the far South settlements were planted by 
New Englanders. In 1695, with the avowed purpose 
of promoting "the extension of religion in the south- 
em plantations," Rev. Joseph Lord of Dorchester, 
Massachusetts, and a company of people who had al- 



334 The Builders of a Natwn 

ready been organized into a church, embarked in two 
ships for South Carolina, where under an oak they 
observed tlie Lord's Supper on February 2, 1696, 
and began a settlement which they called Dorchester, 
where a Puritan or Congregational Church was soon 
erected. In 1752 a new settlement was planted at 
Medway (afterwards corinipted into INIidway), 
Georgia, by families fi'om Dorchester, South Caro- 
lina, wliich was practically depopulated by this exo- 
dus, altliough families of New England stock are 
still to be found in that Section of the State. The 
Medway community furnished two signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, six congressmen, two 
of whom were United States senators, four gover- 
nors, two judges of superior courts, the first United 
States' minister plenipotentiary to China, and many 
others who achieved distinction in church and state. 
Through his mother. President Theodore Roosevelt 
was a descendant of the old Medwav Conffreffational 
Church. 

In 1773 an attempt was made by Phineas Lyman 
of Suffield, Connecticut, to establish a colony in Miss- 
issippi. During that and the following year four 
hundred families, in the traditional New England 
way with a minister at their head, departed from 
Massachusetts and Connecticut for Mississippi. 
Some travelled by sea, others down the Ohio River on 
flat-boats, and still others made their way through 
Tennessee. A settlement was made on the Big Black 



New England m the Making of the Nation 336 

River, seventeen miles above Natchez. Many died 
during the early years of the settlement, and the 
War for Independence coming on prevented further 
emigration thither, but many families of New Eng- 
land origin are still to be found about Natchez. 

Emigration from New England to other sections 
was necessarily checked by the outbreak of the Amer- 
ican Revolution, but after that conflict had ended, 
it began again with renewed vigor. Northern, Cen- 
tral, and Western New York was peopled by New 
Englanders. The settlers who had fled from Wyo- 
ming Valley, during the Revolution, returned with 
many others. The Northeastern counties of Penn- 
sylvania, as well as the newer counties of the state. 
Elk, Erie, Crawford, Bradford, McKean, Schuykill, 
Tioga, Susquehanna, Venango, Warren, and Alle- 
gheny, received a large New England element. 

When the Ordinance creating the Northwest Ter- 
ritory was enacted by Congress in 1787, a million 
and a half of acres in Ohio were granted to the Ohio 
Land Company, which had been organized the year 
previously at the "Bunch of Grapes" Tavern, in 
Boston, by General Rufus Putnam and other Revolu- 
tionary soldiers, chiefly from Massachusetts. A set- 
tlement was started at Marietta, General Putnam 
and a company of forty-eight pioneers going down 
the Ohio River in a boat, which, not inappropriately 
had been christened The Mayflower. The town, laid 
out on conventional New England lines, was first 



336 The Builders of a Natioi% 

called Adelphia, but soon was re-named Marietta in 
honor of the French Queen Marie Antoinette. Other 
New England settlers within a short time joined 
the community which prospered from the first. The 
Northern section of the state, known as the Western 
Reserv^e, which formerly had been owned by Con- 
necticut, was peopled in the main by settlers from 
the "nutmeg" state. In all of the settlements found- 
ed by New Englanders in Ohio, schools and churches 
were soon established, and a ^-ide-reaching influence 
was exerted upon the life of the new commonwealth. 

New England elements entered largely into the 
making of Michigan, directly from the New England 
states and indirectly from New York and Ohio. In 
Indiana there were fewer settlers from New England, 
although in some sections of the state they were 
more or less numerous. Northern Illinois, Southern 
Wisconsin, and considerable portions of Iowa were 
settled by persons of New England birth or ante- 
cedents. From the United States census of 1850 it 
has been learned that in the six states of Ohio, In- 
diana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, for- 
ty-five per cent of tlie inhabitants, not natives of 
those states, were "either natives of New England 
or of the States largely settled by New England 
emigrants." 

With the abrogation of the Missouri Compromise 
and the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill open- 
ing up the territories of the Great West to slavery 



New England in the Making of the Nation 337 

should their inhabitants so decide, Immigration So- 
cieties were organized in New England to people this 
section with settlers who would dedicate the soil to 
freedom. Lawrence, Kansas, which became the bat- 
tle-ground in the conflict, was settled largely by New 
Englanders, who decided the fate of that common- 
wealth. Not only into Kansas but to Nebraska, 
Minnesota, the Dakotas, and all of the states of the 
Great West and Northwest, New Englanders have 
gone, plaj'ing a prominent part and exerting a dom- 
inant influence in shaping the institutions of those 
commonwealths, so that it may, without exaggera- 
tion, be said that the people of New England birth 
or ancestry have been the most important single 
element in the making of the Northern, Western and 
Northwestern States of the American Republic. 

The religious influences of New England have been 
perpetuated in the Congregational denomination, 
with nearly a million communicants and probably 
twice that number of adherents. However, the relig- 
ious influences that have gone out from New Eng- 
land have not been confined to a single denomination. 
In 1801 a "Plan of Union" was entered into by the 
Presbyterian General Assembly and the Congrega- 
tional Association of Connecticut to "prevent aliena- 
tion and promote union and harmony in those set- 
tlements which are composed of inhabitants from 
tliose two bodies." In the outworkings of this 
"Plan" the results were disproportionately in favor 



33S The Builders of a Nation 

of the Presbyterians, it being estimated that not less 
than two thousand churches, which otherwise would 
have been Congregational, became Presbyterian. 
But even the Presbyterians did not absorb all of the 
overflow, for in many of the smaller communities in 
the newer states, New England Congregationalists, 
instead of attempting to organize churches of their 
own, magnanimously united with Methodist, Baptist, 
or other churches which had already pre-empted the 
field, so that the religious influence exerted by the 
New England element in our population has been 
much wider than the Congregational denomination. 
Aside from the numerical strength of Congrega- 
tionalism, and the overflow into the Presbyterian 
and other denominations, in an inspirational way in- 
fluences have gone forth from the churches of New 
England which have afl*ected the religious life of 
the whole nation. The religious spirit of New Eng- 
land has been essentially missionary. Allusion has 
already been made in the preceding chapter to the 
missionary purpose of the Pilgrims and Puritans, 
and to the missionary activities of Elliot and the 
Mayhews. King Philip's War dealt a staggering 
blow to this work. Some of the more recent converts 
lapsed back into paganism and aided Philip in his 
contest with the whites. The great bulk of the 
"praying Indians," however, remained firm, but in 
that conflict, distrusted b\' the whites and hated by 
their dusky brethren, they were between the upper 



New England in the Making of the Nation 339 

and nether millstones. Many of them were mas- 
sacred, and the ground which had been lost was never 
recovered, although Elliot continued his labors al- 
most to the time of his death in 1690. John Ser- 
geant, Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd, Eleazar 
Wheelock, Samuel Kirkland, Marcus Whitman, and 
many others of New England birth or parentage 
have since been conspicuous in their labors for the 
conversion of the American aborigines. 

The earliest attempts to promote home mission- 
ary work may be traced to New England. In 1774, 
the Congregational Association of Connecticut rec- 
ommended that subscriptions be taken in the 
churches for the support of missionaries "to the 
scattered back settlements in the wilderness to the 
northwestward." A committee was appointed to re- 
ceive funds, but the work contemplated was inter- 
rupted by the commencement of the Revolutionary 
War. In 1788 and 1791 the matter was again 
brought to the attention of the churches, and con- 
tributions were taken for the purpose. In 1793 nine 
pastors left their flocks temporarily and went out to 
labor, four months each, in the new settlements of 
Vermont and New York. In 1798, the Connecticut 
Missionary Society was organized "to Christianize 
the heathen of North America, and to support and 
promote Christian knowledge in the new settlements 
within the United States," Within eight or nine 
years every state in New England had organized a 



340 The Builders of a Nation 

similar society, and in 1826 a national society was 
organized, supported by Congregationalists, Pres- 
byterians, and members of the Reformed (Dutch) 
Church. 

The foreign missionary work of this country re- 
ceived its initial impulse in New England. During 
the summer of 1806 a group of students at Williams 
College, Massachusetts, went out into the fields one 
day for religious conversation and prayer. A thun- 
der shower arising, they sought the side of a friendly 
haystack for shelter. The moral darkness of Asia 
was the theme of their conversation, and one of 
their number, Samuel J. Mills, proposed to send the 
gospel to that distant continent. This was objected 
to because of the impossibility of such an undertak- 
ing, but Mills replied, "We can do it if we will." A 
society was formed for the purpose, but later the 
center of interest was transferred to Andover Theo- 
logical Seminary, wliither Mills and others had gone 
to prepare for the ministry. In 1810 a memorial 
was addressed by Mills and three others to the Gen- 
eral Association of Massachusetts, asking to be sent 
as missionaries to the heathen. As a result the Amer- 
ican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 
was organized for the evangelization of the non- 
Christian nations. When application was made to 
the Massachusetts legislature for a charter for this 
society, it was opposed by one of the members on 
the ground that the supply of Christianity in this 



New England in the Makmg of the Nation 341 

country was so limited that none could be spared for 
export, to which the reply was made that religion 
was a commodity, the character of which was such, 
that the more of it was exported, the more remained 
at home. After some delays a charter was granted 
in 1812. To the influence of the American Board, 
the work of every other foreign missionary society in 
this country, directly or indirectly, may be traced. 
Educational developments in America have been 
the result largely of New England influences. The 
first free public school was established by the Dutch 
at New Amsterdam, but the cause of education in 
the province progressed so slowly that by 1656 only 
three schools had been opened. In the South the de- 
velopment of schools was even more tardy, for as 
ilate as 1671, Governor Berkely wrote: "I thank God, 
there are no free schools nor printing, and I hope 
(We shall not have these hundred years; for learning 
'has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into 
I the world, and printing has divulged them and libels 
against the best government. God keep us from 
jboth!" - ^ 

I No schools were opened in Plymouth Colony until 
J1635, the reason being as Governor Bradford inti- 
imates "for want of a fit person and hitherto means to 
(maintain one." It was not until some years later 
'that a school system was set in operation by the 
iauthorities of the colony. For the educational be- 
'ginnings of the country, therefore, we must look to 



342 The Builders of a Nation 

the Puritan Colony of Massachusetts Bay. The Bos- 
ton Latin School was opened in 1635, other schools 
being established at Charlestown and Salem not long 
afterwards. In 1639, the first school in America 
supported by direct taxation was opened at Dor- 
chester. The ^lassachusetts General Court, in 1642, 
enacted legislation encouraging education, but since 
it did not prove effective, five years later, the follow- 
ing Ordinance, which has been termed "the mother 
of our school laws," was adopted: 

"It being one chief project of that old deluder, 
Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scrip- 
tures, as, in former times, keeping them in an un- 
known tongue, so in these later times, by persuading 
from the use of tongues ; so that at last the true 
sense and meaning of the original might be clouded 
and corrupted with false glosses of deceivers ; and 
to the end that learning may not be buried in the 
graves of our forefathers, in church and common- 
wealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors : 

"7/ is therefore ordered by this Court and author- 
ity thereof that every township within this jurisdic- 
tion, after the Lord hath increased them to the 
number of fifty householders, shall then forthwith ap- 
point one within their town to teach all such children 
as shall resort to him, to writ^ and read; whose 
wages shall be paid, either by the parents or masters 
of such children, or by the inhabitants in general, by 
way of supply, as the major part of those who order 



New England in the Making of the Nation 343 

the prudentials of the town shall appoint; provided 
that those who send their children shall not be op- 
pressed by paying much more than they can have 
them taught in adjoining towns. 

"And it is furtlier ordered that where any town 
shall increase to the number of one hundred families 
or householders, they shall set up a grammar-school, 
the master thereof being able to instruct youths so 
far as they may be fitted for the university ; and if 
any town neglect the performance hereof, above one 
year, then every such town shall pay five pounds per 
annum to the next such school, till they shall per- 
form this order." 

As has already been noted, in 1636, Harvard Col- 
lege was founded "to advance Learning and per- 
petuate it to Posterity ; dreading to leave an illit- 
erate Ministry to the Churches, when our present 
Ministers should lie in the Dust." Yale College was 
founded in 1701. The College of New Jersey, found- 
ed largely by New England men and money, was 
opened in 1748. Brown University was established 
under Baptist auspices in 1764. Dartmouth Col- 
lege, first opened as an Indian school, was chartered 
by George III in 1769. Benjamin Franklin, a 
sturdy New Englander, was chiefly responsible for 
the establishment of the University of Pennsylvania. 
Besides these institutions there were only four others 
of college rank in the colonies at the outbreak of the 
Revolution. 



S-i-i The Builders of a Nation 

In the subsequent history of the country, schools, 
academies, colleges, and universities, almost with- 
out number, have been established by New England- 
ers. In New York, Hamilton and Union Colleges ; in 
Penns^'lvania, Allegheny College; in Ohio, Ohio and 
Western Reserve Universities, and Marietta and 
Oberlin Colleges ; in Michigan, the Universit}' at Ann 
Arbor, and Olivet, Hillsdale, and Adrian Colleges ; in 
Indiana, Wabash College; in Illinois, Illinois, Rock- 
ford, Knox, and Wheaton Colleges, the State Uni- 
versitA'^, and indirectly Northwestern University; in 
Wisconsin, Beloit, Ripon, and Northland Colleges; 
in Iowa, Grinnell and Tabor Colleges ; in Minnesota, 
Carleton College; in Kansas, the State University, 
Washburn and Fairmount Colleges, and Kansas City 
University; in Nebraska, Doane College; in South 
Dakota, Yankton and Redfield Colleges ; in North 
Dakota, Fargo College; in Colorado, Colorado Col- 
lege; in Oklahoma, Kingfisher College; in Oregon, 
Pacific University ; in Wasliington, Whitman College ; 
and in California, Pomona College. In nearly every 
one of the states mentioned many other schools have 
been founded with the assistance of New England 
men and money. In the establishment of state insti- 
tutions. Universities, Nonnal Schools, and Agricul- 
tural Colleges, and in shaping the public school sys- 
tems, men and women of New England birth, an- 
cestry, or training have ]ilayed no unimportant part. 
It is not too much, tliorefore, to say that the educa- 



New England m the Makmg of the Nation 345 

tional life of the nation has been determined very 
largely by New England influences. 

The ideals and ideas of Pilgrims and Puritans 
have not only left their impress upon the religious 
and educational life of the nation but upon the state 
as well. De Toqucville says: "They brought with 
them into the New World a form of Christianity 
which I can not better describe than by styling it a 
democratic and republican religion. This sect con- 
tributed powerfully to the establishment of democ- 
racy and a republic." 

The church of the Pilgrims was the simplest form 
of pure democracy. The adoption of the Mayflower 
Compact was but the application of the principles 
of their church to the government of the state, the 
heads of families covenanting to live together in 
peace and harmony under just and equal laws en- 
acted for the common good. The early New England 
town meeting, in which every freeman had an equal 
voice and an equal vote, was simply a meeting of the 
church for the consideration of civic aff*airs. At 
first there was no distinction between the town meet- 
ing and the church meeting. "Church officers and 
town officers were chosen at the same meeting, and 
the church records and the town records were one." 

Wherever New England influences have predom- 
inated, the town meeting or some modification of it 
has prevailed. In New York, where the town meeting 
had first been introduced by way of Long Island, 



346 The Builders of a Nation 

and where greater powers were given to the town- 
ship officers than in Massachusetts, to the usual 
New England town officers a supervisor was added 
to receive and disburse the monies of the town, keep 
accounts, sue or be sued in the name of the town, 
and cause the town survey's to be made. The super- 
visors of each of the towns in the county constitute 
a board of supervisors, which meets once a year to 
legislate for the county, have charge of its accounts, 
and audit aU bills and outstanding debts against the 
to^vns. In Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, 
Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and various 
other states, the toAvn meeting idea is found, some- 
times modified as in New York, making the town 
subordinate to the count}', and elsewhere giving 
greater powers to the town as was and is the case 
in New England. 

Until 1638, the town meeting, with the Governor 
and his Assistants, constituted the only government 
in Plymouth, but the colony having expanded so as 
to include other to^^^ls, it was decided to fonn a 
house of Deputies, composed of two or three repre- 
sentatives from each of the towns and four from 
Plymouth. Six A'ears earlier as the result of a pro- 
test from Watertown against the principle of taxa- 
tion without representation, every town in Massa- 
chusetts Colony was authorized to appoint two 
deputies to confer with the Governor and his Assist- 
ants as to the raising of public funds. In 1634< 



New England in the Makvng of the Nation 347 

the government of the colony was made represen- 
tative, two or three deputies being chosen from each 
town. As early as 1619 a House of Burgesses had 
been established in Virginia, but it is through Massa- 
chusetts rather than Virginia that most of the states 
in the American Commonwealth trace their lines of 
descent in representative government. 

The Declaration of Independence was but the 
outgrowth of those principles of freedom which 
prompted the early settlers to forsake their ances- 
tral homes and the land of their birth to embark 
upon a hazardous enterprise on this side of the sea. 
John Adams said; "The principles and feelings 
which contributed to produce the Revolution ought 
to be traced back for two hundred years, and sought 
in the history of the country from the first plan- 
tations in America." 

In the New England colonies long before the out- 
break of the Revolution all of the rights of sover- 
eignty had been exercised. Without the advice, con- 
sent, or assistance of the mother country, legislatures 
had been established, laws had been enacted, all of 
their own officers from constable to governor had 
been elected by the free choice of the citizens, treaties 
had been made, armies had been raised, and wars had 
been waged. They even had their own coinage, viz. : 
the famous pine tree currency, shillings, etc. More- 
over the people had resented the aggressions of the 
mother country such as the abrogation of charters 



348 The Builders of a Nation 

and the appointment of royal governors. When, 
therefore, parliament undertook to tax them with- 
out representation, they resisted and submitted their 
cause to the stem arbitrament of arms. In that 
struggle New England took the foremost part. She 
was the first to defy the tyranny of the mother 
country. Upon her soil the first battles for freedom 
were fought and in the long war which followed she 
furnished a majority of the soldiers who fought for 
independence. 

After the war had ended and it became necessary 
to provide a form of government for the territories 
soon to be opened up for settlement west of the AUe- 
ghenies, Congress passed the Ordinance of 1787, for 
the Northwest Territory, out of which the great 
States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wis- 
consin have come. The Ordinance provided that the 
whole area should be divided into territories, each 
of which might become a state as soon as it had sixty 
thousand inhabitants. Liberal provisions were made 
for the encouragement of popular education. Free- 
dom of faith and worship were guaranteed together 
with the right to trial by jury. Most important of 
all, slavery was forever abolished within the bounds 
of the Northwest Territory. Of this document Theo- 
dore Roosevelt has said : "The ordinance of 1787 was 
so wide reaching in its effects, was drawn in accord- 
ance with so lofty a morality and such far-seeing 
statesmanship, and was fraught with such weal for 



New England in the Making of the Nation 349 

the nation, that it will ever rank among the fore- 
most of American state papers, coming in that little 
group which includes the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, the Constitution, Washington's Farewell Ad- 
dress, and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and 
Second Inaugural." The one man above all others 
who was instrumental in shaping the Ordinance was 
Manasseh Cutler, a New England clergyman, at that 
time an agent of the Ohio Company, and afterwards 
a member of the American Congress. 

In the subsequent development of our national life, 
in the warfare waged against duelling, intemper- 
ance, and slavery, and in the preservation of the 
Union during the Civil War, the determining factor 
was the New England element, embracing not alone 
the people of New England, but of those common- 
wealths where the descendants of the Pilgrims and 
Puritans predominated. The Confederate soldiers 
were not far wrong in nicknaming their opponents 
Yankees, for it was the Yankee blood that triumphed 
in that struggle. 

In the settlement of the newer portions of the 
country and in shaping the religious, educational, 
and civic institutions of our country, no section has 
exerted a greater influence than New England. In 
the last analysis that influence must be traced back 
to tlie colonists of Plymoutli and Massachusetts 
Bay, particularly the former, for as Governor 
Hutchinson said : "The settlement of this colony 



350 The Builders of a Xation 

occasioned the settlement of Massachusetts Bay, 
which was the source of all the other colonies of New 
England. Airginia was in a dvinij state, and seemed 
to revive and flourish from the example of New 
England." The Pilgrim Fathers, who crossed the 
seas and laid the foundations of civil and religious 
freedom, therefore merit the high honor of being 
called the Builders of a Nation. 



INDEX 



Abbot, George, 298, 290 
Abigail, the, 301 
Act of 1593, 56, 57, 92, 117 
Act of Supremacy, 33 
Act of Uniformity, 33 
Admonition to Parliament, 4^5- 

47 
Admonition, the Second, 47 
"Advertisements," 42, 43 
"Adventurers," 175, 176, 177, 

186, 187, 190, 269, 275, 279, 

280 
Ains worth, Henry, 102, 126, 

127. 
Alden, John, 191, 201, 282 
AUerton, Isaac, 156, 201, 232, 

235, 282, 285, 287 
Allerton, John, 201, 215 
Amsterdam, 88, 94, 111, 124- 

131, 134, 149, 163 
Ames, William, 103 
Anabaptists, 93 
Andros, Edmund, 329 
Anne, the, 267, 269, 270, 276 
Arbella, the, 301 
"Articles" of Whitgift, 51 

Bacon, Lord, 79 

Baillie, Robert, 5, 102 

Bancroft, Archbishop, 60, 
289 

Baptists, 317, 318, 319 

Barrowe, Henry, birth and 
education, 79, 80; his con- 
version, 79, 80; becomes a 
Separatist, 80; his imprison- 



ment, 81 ff.; his principles, 
81-83; execution, 84, 85, 86; 
referred to, 125 
Bastwick, John, 105 
Bernard, Richard, 95, 99 
Bible, King James' version, 40 
Bible, the Great, 25 
Billington, John, 192, 201, 214, 

239 
Boleyn, Anne, 21, 22, 34 
Book of Conunon Prayer, 28, 
29, 33, 39, 41, 44, 46, 51, 60, 
81, 103 
"Book of Sports," 290, 292 
Boston, Lincolnshire, 118, 119 
Boston, Massachusetts, 253, 

303, 308, 314, 316, 326 
Bradford, William, birth, 110; 
becomes a Separatist, 110; 
marriage, 138; signs May- 
flower Compact, 201, 206, 
209; death of his wife, 219; 
elected governor of Ply- 
mouth, 235, 251, 254, 255, 
262, 272, 273, 276, 277, 282, 
287; quoted, 63, 79, 95, 96, 
106, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112, 
114, 115, 118, 119, 120, 121, 
122, 123, 127, 131, 137, 144, 
145, 149, 150, 154, 155, 158, 
159, 171, 172, 173, 175, 182, 
184, 192, 193, 195, 197, 198, 
199, 209, 211, 215, 216, 218, 
220, 221, 223, 224, 234, 235, 
248, 249, 256, 257, 259, 264, 
265, 269, 270, 276, 286, 288 



351 



352 



Index 



Brewer, Thomas, 139-142, 143, 
155 

Brewster, William, birth and 
education, 106; secretary to 
"William Davison, 106; post- 
master at Scrooby, 107, 108; 
his home the meeting place 
of the Pilgrims, 108; ruling 
elder, 11^?; arrested at Bos- 
ton, 119; employment at 
Ley den, 138-141 '; accom- 
panies Rlgrims to America, 
179; signs Mayflower Com- 
pact, 201, 224, 247, 276, 279, 
282 

Bright, Francis, 299 

Britteridge, Richard, 201 

Brown, Peter, 201, 221 

Browne, Robert, education 
and early life, 67, 68; be- 
comes a Separatist, 69; or- 
ganizes a church at Nor- 
wich, 69, 70; goes to Middle- 
berg, 71 ; statement of his 
principles, 71-75 ; circula- 
tion of his books prohibited, 
75; returns to England, 75; 
returns to the Established 
Church, 76, 77, 78 ; his death, 
78; referred to, 80, 103 

Brownists, 67, 92, 128, 132, 
133, 141, 159, 163, 181, 280 

Burghley, Lord Treasurer, 47, 
5^, 53, 67, 76, 77 

Burial Hill, 219 

Calderwood, David, 139, 151 
Calvin, John, 39, 180, 289, 

311 . .. 

Calvinism, 28, 30, 180 
Cambridge University, 67, 79, 

80, 85, 95, 99, 102, "lOS, 106 
Cannonicus, 251 
Cape Cod Harbor, 197, 199, 

200, 204 
Carleton, Sir Dudley, 139-141 
Cartwright, Thomas, 47-49 



Carver, John, 155, 156, 165, 

167, 168, 185, 187, 201, 202, 

215, 2-22, 230, 232, 234, 235, 

249 
Charlestown, 243, 302 
Charity, the, 273, 276 
Charles I, 280, 290, 291, 308 
Chilton, James, 201 
Chruch of England, 22, 23, 27- 

30, 35, 40, 44-51, 58, 62, 81, 

82, 92, 104, 291, 292, 295, 310 
Clarke, Richard, 201 
Clvfton. Richard, 94, 102, 110, 

111, 123, 134 
Colet, John, 19, 20 
Common House, 220, 221, 222, 

246 
Commons, House of, 15, 30, 92 
Conant, Roger, 295 
Conditions of Agreement, 176, 

178, 185-187 
Congregationalism, 311, 337, 

338, 339, 340 
Cook, Francis, 201 
Coppin, Robert, 214, 218 
Copping, John, 75, 86 
Corbitant, 240, 241, 242, 253, 

261, 327 
Council of Constance, 15 
Council of Virginia, 165, 167, 

168 
Crackston, John, 201 
Cranmer, Archbishop, 27, 28, 

29, 30, 31, 32, 35 
Cromwell, 23 
Cushman, Robert, 155, 165, 

167, 168, 173, 185, 186, 192, 

193, 247, 250, 381 

Dartmouth, 192 
Davenport, John, 306 
Davison, William, 106, 107 
Del f shaven, 182, 184, 268 
Dennis, William, 75, 86 
De Rasieres, Isaac, 283, 284 
Dermer, Captain, 227, 229 
Dexter, Morton, 288 



Index 



353 



Dexter, Henry M., 78, 163 
Discovery, the, 258 
Dorchester, 303 
Dotey, Edward, 201, 215 
Dudley, Thomas, 301, 307 
Dunster, Henry, 317 

Eaton, Francis, 201 

Edward I, 12 

Edward, III, 12 

Edward VI, 27-30, 33, 35, 38, 

39 
Elizabeth, 30, 30-34, 35, 36, 

40, 45, 49, 50, 56, 57, 63, 

84, 92, 106 

Elliot, John, 337, 328 
Endicott, John, 296, 297, 298, 

310, 311 
English, Thomas, 201, 215 
Erasmus, 18-20 

Field, John, 45-47 

Fiske, John, 288 

Fitz, Richard, 63, Q5, 66, 67, 

135, 126 
Fletcher, Moses, 201 
Fortune, the, 247, 248, 249, 

250, 251, 253 
"Forty-two Articles," 30, 33 
Fuller, Edward, 201 
Fuller, Samuel, 156, 201, 242, 

268, 297, 311, 314 
Fuller, Thomas, 17, 77, 78 

Gainsborough, 94, 96, 97, 98, 

99, 106, 111, 114 
Gardiner, Richard, 201 
Geneva, 39, 40, 62 
Genevan Bible, 40 
Goodman, John, 201, 221 
Gorges, Robert, 269 
Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, 229, 

308 
Gott, Charles, 312, 313 
Greenwood, John, 80, 81, 84, 

85, 86, 88, 125 

Grindal, Archbishop, 49, 50, 
51, 64 



Hall, Bishop, 105 
Hamden, John, 261 
Harcourt, Robert, 164 
Harrison, 69, 70, 103 
Hartford, 305 

Harvard College, 325, 326, 343 
Harvard, John, 325 
Helwys, Thomas, 160, 161 
Henry VIII, 11, 13, 18, 20-23, 

25, 27, 30, 32, 35, 38 
Higginson, Francis, 294, 299, 

300, 313 

High Commission Court, 33, 

85, 292 
Hobomuk, 340, 241, 242, 253, 

254, 255, 261, 263, 367, 337 
Hooker, Thomas, 305 
Hooper, John, 38, 39 
Hopkins, Stephen, 191, 195, 

301, 206, 209, 215, 226, 236, 
237, 241 

Hout, van, I., 132 

Howland, John, 197, 201, 215, 

283 
Huddleston, John, 256, 257 
Hudson River, 163, 174, 197, 

198 
Hunt, Captain, 227, 229 
Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne, 317, 

330 
Hutchinson, Thomas, 349, 

350 

Indians, 203, 306, 307, 311, 
212, 215, 216, 217, 230, 335- 
245, 246, 247, 251, 252, 253, 
254, 255, 256, 258, 261-264, 
305, 306, 326, 337, 328, 338, 
339 

Innocent III, 12 

Jacob, Henry, 159, 170 
James I, 58-61, 85, 88, 92, 

171, 200, 230, 232, 244, 280, 

290 
James, the, 373 
Jepson, William, 147, 148 



354 



Index 



Johnson, Francis, 84, 87, 88, 
92, 99, 126, 127, 128, 129, 
130, 159 

Jones, Captain, 198, 199, 210, 
211, 214, 226, 233, 258 

Katherine of Aragon, 20, 21 
King Philip's War, 328, 329, 
338 

Langton, Stephen, 11, 12 

Latimer, Bishop, 31 

Laud, WilUam, 280, 290, 291, 

292, 293, 308 
Leighton, Edward, 293 
Leyden, 131-134, 135-156, 157, 

172, 182, 184, 281, 286 
Lister, Edward, 201 
Little James, the, 267 
LoUards, 15-17, 35 
Luther, Martin, 14, 19, 20, 

180 
Lyford, John, 274, 275, 276, 

277, 278, 279, 295, 296, 316 

Margeson, Edmund, 201 

Mar-Prelate Tracts, 53-57, 85 

Martin, Christopher, 190, 201 

Mary, Queen of England, 21, 
30-32, 34, 39, 43, 63 

Mason, Captain, 306 

Massasoit, 227, 228, 229, 230, 
231, 232, 236, 237, 240, 242, 
243, 247, 253, 254, 255, 261, 
262, 327, 328 

Mayflower, the, 141, 179, 185, 
190, 192, 193, 194, 204, 205, 
207, 210, 214, 218, 219, 222, 
226, 233, 249, 258, 286 

Mayflower Compact, 149, 200, 
315 

Med ford, 302 

Mennonites, 93 

Merrymount, 285 

Millenary Petition, 58, 59 

Missions, 338-341 

More, ITiomas, 18, 19 



Morrel, William, 270 
Morton, George, 268 
Morton, Nathaniel, 96, 190, 

198, 201 
Morton, Thomas, 285 
Mourt's Relation, 216, 218, 

230, 250, 294 
MuUins, Priscilla, 191 
MuUins, WU. un, 191, 201 

Narragansetts, 240, 251, 306 
Naunton, Sir Robert, 171, 

172 
Nausets, 229, 239, 240, 258 
New England influence in 

America, 331-350 
New Haven, 306 
Noye, de la, Philip, 247 

Oath of Supremacy, 169 
Oldham, John, 276, 277, 278, 

279 
Oxford University, 13, 159 

Paget, John, 152 

Paragon, the, 270 

Parker, Archbishop, 49, 50 

Parliament, 22, 30, 44, 45 

Penry, John, 85-87, 125 

Pequots, 305, 306 

Pilgrims, organization of their 
church, 94, 96, 97, 98; re- 
moval to Amsterdam, 114, 
115, 117-124; removal to 
Leyden, 131-134; purchase 
of a house in which to wor- 
ship, 146-148; order of 
worship, 148, 149; harmoni- 
ous spirit, 149, 150; rela- 
tions with other churches, 
150-154; respect of the 
people at Leyden, 154, 155; 
reasons for leaving Ley- 
den, 158-163; decide to emi- 
grate to America, 164; 
statement of principles, 
165, 170; farewell to Ley- 



Index 



355 



den and Holland, 178-184; 
at Southampton, 185-192; 
delay at Dartmouth, 192; at 
Plymouth, 193, 194; voyage 
on the Mayflower, 194-20^; 
the May flow v^r Compact, 
201; explorations, 206, 209, 
214; landing rt Plymouth 
Rock, 218; ti'ibrtality the 
first winter, 222; treaty with 
the Indians, 231; first 
thanksgiving, 246; commu- 
nistic experiment, 265 ; 
drought at Plymouth, 266; 
government of the colony, 
272 ; religious toleration ; 
colony merged with Mas- 
sachusetts, 330 
Plvmouth, 218, 219, 221, 225, 
229, 238, 240, 241, 244, 252, 
254, 256, 258, 264, 283, 287, 
297, 313, 314, 316 
Pory, John, 259, 260, 261 
Presbyterianism, 62, 311, 337, 

338, 340 
Priest, Degory, 201 
Prince, Thomas, 282 
"Prophesyings," 49, 50 
Protestantism, 18, 23, 25, 27, 
29, 30, 32, 34, 37, 38, 40, 
43 
Puritanism, 11, 35-61, Q^, 63, 
94, 95, 289, 290, 307, 308, 
309, 31 ■> 



Quadequina, 229 
Quakers, 318, 321, 322 



Raleigh, Sir Walter, 92, 164 
Rathband, William, 313 
Reformation in England, 11- 

33 
Revolutionary War, 347, 348 
Reynolds, Captain, 192, 193 
Ridley, Bishop, 31, 35 



Rigdale, John, 20 

Rippon, Roger, 36 

Robinson, John, birth and 
education, 102 curate at 
Norwich, 103; becomes a 
Separatist, 103, 104; reluc- 
tance at leaving the Church 
of England, 105, 106 pastor 
of the church at Scrooby, 
111, 112 his principles, 112, 
113 his church forced into 
exile, 114-115; difficulties of 
this undertaking, 117-124; 
removal of church to Ley- 
den, 131-134; his writings, 
142, 143; malriculates at the 
University of Leyden, 143, 
144; controversy with the 
Arminians, 144, 145; his 
care of the flock, 145, 146; 
his catholicity of spirit, 
150-154; farewell address to 
the Pilgrims, 179-182; letter 
to the Pilgrims at South- 
ampton, 187-190; letter to 
Plymouth, 274, 275; his 
death, 281, 282 

Rogers, Thomas, 201 

Rome, Church of, 11, 14, 19, 
22, 23, 27, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37 

Rough, John, 63, 64 68, 88 

Roxbury, 302, 305 



Salem, 278, 297, 300, 301, 

319 
Samoset, 227, 228, 229, 232 
Sandys, Archbishop, 108 
Sandys, Samuel, 108 
Sandys, Sir Edwin, 167, 171, 

173 
Schools, 341, 342, 343, 344 
Scrooby, 94, 99, 106, 108, 111, 

114, 117 
Separatists, 61, 62-91, 92, 93, 

94, 95, 99, 103, 275, 294, 

310 



356 



Index 



"Seven Articles" of the church 

at Leyden, 165-167 
Shakespeare, "William, 167 
Skelton, Samuel, i?99, 300, 

313 
Smith, Ralph, 2^6, 299, 314 
Smyth, John, 97, 98, 99; his 
principles of church order, 
100-10?; his church removes 
to Amsterdam, 111, 11+, 
1?6; troubles at Amster- 
dam, 130 
Soule. George, 201 
Sinithworth, Mrs., 268 
Sjiarrow, the, 255, 258 
Speedwell, the, 179, 1^4, 190, 

192 193 
Squa'nto, 228, 229, 232, 233, 
236, 239, 240, 241, 243, 253, 
254, 255. 258, 327 
Stnndish, Barbara, 268 
St.uidish, Mvles, 156, 191, 201, 
206, 215, 217, 224, 2-2Q, 230, 
232, 241, 242, 252, 253, 263, 
268, 280, 282, 316 
Star Chamber, 292 
Staresmore, Sabin, 170 
"Supplication'' of the Sepa- 
ratist Church at Amster- 
dam, 88-91 

"Ten Articles of Religion," 23, 

25 
Thacker, Elias, 75 
Thanksgiving, the first, 246 
"Tliirty-nine" Articles," 30, 33, 

44 
Tiller, Edward, 201, 206, 215 
Tillev, John, 201, 215 
Tinker, Thomas. 201 
Turner, John, 201 

Underbill, Captain, 306 
United Colonies, 323-329 



Vestments, 37, 38, 42 
Virginia Company, 165, 170, 
172, 173, 199 

Waddineton, John, 65 
Warren," Richard, 201, 215 
Watertown, 302, 304, 305 
"West, Francis, 269 
Weston. Thomas, 175, 185, 249, 

255, 257, ^o?', 264 
Wethersfield, 304, 305 
Wevmouth, Ho^, 262, 263, 269 
White, John, 295, 296, 302, 

303 
White, Perecrine, 214 
White, Roger, 281 
White, William, 201, 235 
Whitgift, John, 47, 48, 51, 62, 

53, 60, 85 
Wiclif, John, 13, 14, 35 
Wilcox, Thomas, 45-47 
Williams, Roger, 314, 

319, 320 
Williams, Thomas, 201 
Wilson, John, 302, 314 
Wincob, Jacob, 174 
Windsor, 305 
Winslow, Edward, 149, 

171, 174, 180-182, 184, 
215, 229, 230, 
241, 242, 244, 246, 
261, 2G-2, 267, 274, 
288, 294, 307, 313, 



317, 



155, 
185, 
?35, 



201, 208, 

236, 237, 

247, 248, 

281, 282, 

327, 328 
rWinsIow, Gilbert, 201 
Winslow, John, 247 
Winthrop, John, 294, 301, 302, 

303, 314 
Witchcraft, 318 
Wolsey, Cardinal, 108 
Wolstenholme, Sir John, 169, 

170 

Zouche, Sir William, 141 



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